Project Titan: Subject Rogue
by BitterLilyz
Summary: Eren thought his life was going better after joining the military. He had already suffered enough up to that point, and his hopes were high after a year of training, but when a strange and unpleasant woman shows up to take him away into some unknown "government approved" project, he can just see his future going up in smoke. Canonverse with a twist. Might have pairings later on.
1. Prologue

**Woo! First fanfic on here! I'd really appreciate any feed back I can get on this so I can improve on it and whatnot. Also the picture is not mine, I simply borrowed it from Helene S. on Pinterest. Don't kill me! But I do hope everyone enjoys the story! ^W^**

 **Prologue- Midnight Meeting**

 _One month before the fall of Wall Maria_

In the dead of night, the sleepy district of Shiganshina was dark and silent. Every window of every humble home was black. Even the street lamps were dimmed much too low to be of any use to the rare street wanderings who happened to be out. It was an ordinary night for most residents, slumbering peacefully in their beds, but near the center of town a small flickering light wavered in the window of a simple home.

The source was a dribbling candle sat between two people at a rough wooden table. The man and woman were discussing topics that could only be voiced in the cover of night, away from prying eyes and ears, but even with the precaution, there was still an eavesdropper in the form of a small, brown-haired boy with perpetually curious blue-green eyes.

* * *

Eren jolted awake in his tiny cot, shaken by some dream he could no longer remember. His clothes were slightly damp with sweat and his body felt jittery. Whatever that dream had been it must not have been a pleasant one. He yawned widely and sat up, rubbing sleep from his eyes. It would be awhile before Eren's adrenaline-riddled body would calm down, so going back to bed wasn't an option. Across from him, his adopted sister, Mikasa, slept away on a similar lumpy cot. Their house wasn't large so they had to share a room, despite being of the opposite gender.

The young boy frowned at her as she fidgeted and squirmed in her bed, black hair spilled over her face and pillow and her delicate face scrunched up in distress. Clearly she was not sleeping well either and Eren wondered what she could be dreaming of that made her so tense. It could be her recurring nightmare of that traumatic event. It had been about a year since Mikasa had witnessed her parent's murder and was then subjected to the torment of human traffickers. Eren had managed to make it time to save her and as a result, she was graciously accepted into their home. Sadly, no amount of comfort the Jaeger family could give would completely erase the damage of that night, so it would be no surprise if that was what haunted her dreams.

Thinking that sleep was a lost cause, Eren stood and silently walked to his sister's bed. He tentatively picked up the blanket Mikasa had kicked off and draped it back over her shivering form. As if she knew he was there, her body stilled and her face relaxed, a small smile forming on her lips. Eren sighed in relief and tiptoed to the door, thinking of grabbing a cup of water for his parched throat before attempting to fall back asleep.

Being mindful of the creaky steps, Eren crept down the stairs but halted suddenly when he heard low murmurs and saw light flickering across the bottom steps and the floor of the main room. The boy frowned, wondering why his parent's would be talking at a time like this and deciding that whatever it was, it was something they were trying to hide from him and Mikasa. Being the rebellious and curious boy that he was, there was really no other option than to quietly climb down the last couple steps that were still shaded from the light and listen to their secret words. Eren sat and peered down the stairs into the first floor of the house, which acted as a living room and kitchen.

Sitting at the kitchen table were two people, one of whom was surprisingly not Eren's parent. The man was obviously Eren's father, with his long hair and round spectacles, it was hard to mistaken him from anyone else, though, it was odd to find his father so tense and frustrated. The woman sitting with him was clearly not his mother. This woman was tall, elegantly slim, and framed in an expensive looking dress. Her hair was longer and darker than Eren's mother and where there should have been gold instead there was an off-putting lavender color. While Carla Jaeger could be strict, especially with such a misbehaving son, there was always motherly warmth in her soft face. This woman, however, had a cold demeanor to her sharp features and an aura that could chill the bones of any titan. She was beautiful, of course, but Eren was thankful her attention was not on him.

Why would his father meet with such an awful looking woman? Especially at night while his wife slept a floor above? Eren was incredibly confused but stopped his troubled mind when he heard the ice woman speak.

"So, you plan on leaving the entire project then? Abandon all our hard work and pretend like you're the innocent family man you want to appear as? What kind of nonsense is that?" Eren shivered at her voice, and was extra happy to be oblivious to the adults. He could practically feel the ice trickle down his spine at her words.

"It is not nonsense to care more for my family than for an experiment I barely have ties to, as I have said before. I agreed to lend my knowledge and experience but that was all. This has gotten too far out of hand for me, especially when you come knocking at all hours of night," Eren's father retorted, his irritation growing at the mention of the time. "Surely there is a better time to discuss this?"

"I would agree, but considering you have been avoiding any contact with us, I decided it was time to…pay a little visit," the woman replied, glaring around their simple home. "Trust me, nothing would please me more than to be home in bed, and yet here I am, trying to convince a stubborn man to understand how selfish his actions are."

Eren quietly huffed at that, glaring daggers at the woman who insulted his father. The fear he had felt before melted into anger. Even though he had no idea what they were talking about, he could agree with Grisha in saying family was always more important and how dare this person scold him for thinking that way.

"You would know quite a bit about selfish actions, wouldn't you, Violet?" Grisha sighed, his anger fading to exhaustion.

The woman, Violet, chuckle lightly at that, the tension fading just slightly from the room as she replied.

"My decisions may be considered selfish to some but I think the outcome far outweighs the actions. Once we're done with the experiments, who knows? My selfishness could be one of the greatest things to ever grace humanity," Violet said, haughtily. Eren was starting to like this woman less and less, if that were even possible.

"If you say so," Grisha muttered, shaking his head. "Now, if I've answered all your questions, I would appreciate it if you would allow me to go back to bed as it is very late and I am very tired."

"Well, there is something else I would like to ask you about…" Violet started, drawling out the sentence slowly.

Grisha glared suspiciously. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised you aren't finished. You wouldn't come all the way to the outer wall just to try and argue a case you knew would fail. Fine then, what is it you want to ask me?"

"How is your son, Grisha?"

Every trace of forced pleasantry left Grisha's face and his body jolted to a stop. It was hard to read his face in the dimming light but from where Eren sat it looked like his father had paled considerably. Then, surprise and shock turned to unbelievable rage.

"Don't you dare even think about bringing my family into this," he snarled, his fist balled furiously.

"I simply asked how he was, why would you assume—."

"Because I know how you work, Violet!" he hissed, trying to keep his voice down. "You don't honestly care about anyone to ask unless there's something in it for you. No, my son is not a topic of discussion."

"But can you imagine his potential?! He could become an excellent addition to the project!"

"I said _NO!_ "

Eren jumped in his seat and almost tumbled down the stairs. He had never, in all his young life, heard his father sound so angry. Not even after his reckless mission to save Mikasa had he ever been so furious. Whatever it was this woman wanted from Eren, it couldn't be good.

The two adults were silent for a moment, assessing whether anyone had awoken from Grisha's outburst. When no sounds of stirring were heard Violet spoke in a much softer voice.

"I see I won't be getting anything out of you tonight, will I? Fine, I'll leave you alone for now." Violet stood and walked to the door, grabbing a sleek fur coat from the rack as she passed. "But keep this in mind, Grisha, you can't stop the wheels of progress once they start turning. You can quit the project all you want, but don't expect us not to check up on you…and your son as well."

Eren shuddered at the harsh promise, hoping desperately that this woman would never crossed his path again.

Grisha didn't even bother showing her out. He simply waited for the door to slam shut before letting out a long held sigh of relief. He slumped over the table for a moment, head in his hands, before standing and rummaging through one of the cabinets. Eren craned his neck to see what his father was looking for and was surprised when he saw a glass bottle and a cup appear in his hands.

Eren decided it was time for him to leave his father to his troubled thoughts. The boy stumbled back up the stairs as quietly as he could manage and slipped into his dark room. Mikasa was sleeping a bit more peacefully then when he first left and didn't move when Eren crawled back into bed and lay facing the wall.

What was this special project his father was supposed to be a part of? And what did it have to do with Eren? Eren wasn't the brightest child, nothing like his best friend, Armin, so whatever this woman wanted with him, it couldn't be for the same reason as his father. What would make Eren different from any other kid in Shiganshina? And would this Violet woman make due on her promise? He hoped not. He'd had enough of hearing her smug voice for one lifetime.

Sleep seemed to finally want to take him, because even with his swirling questions, Eren's eyes closed and he slipped into a dreamless darkness.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1- Unwelcome Visitors**

Red. There was only red. Everywhere Eren looked he saw nothing but red. The red of blood, the red of fire, the red of the dying sun and bleeding sky. His mind was clouded with the red of hate and outright fury. Today was a dark day for humanity. Today was the day Wall Maria fell and the titan's invaded what little peace the humans had built over a hundred years inside the walls. Today was a day of death and red.

Eren stood at the side of the overcrowded boat. Bloody fingers covered in splinters clinging like claws to the wooden edge and hypnotic eyes blazing with unbridled outrage. It felt like fire was boiling under his skin and it only helped to fuel his determination. He was going to do it. He was going to kill every last titan in this god forsaken world, even if it eventually killed him. He would do it. He would do it…

 _Three years later_

Ocean eyes stared down at the pitiful excuse for dinner. A loaf of hard bread, a steamed potato, and gruel-like soup were the only rations the military had to offer to the young cadets in training. While it was no feast, it was probably better than what most kids their age would be eating and filled them up enough to get them through the ungodly training regimen.

On either side of Eren sat his sister and best friend, making pleasant conversation with the other cadets at the table. They had only been there a year but everyone laughed and joked like they were all old friends. All except Eren who was having a strange kind of staring contest with his half-eaten food. A glower that could melt steel set on his young face.

"Eren, why aren't you eating? Is there something wrong with your food?" Mikasa asked, being the overprotective sister that she always was. Eren could get a paper cut and Mikasa would fret over him as if he were dying. While he was grateful that she cared, he did not appreciate being coddled like a child.

"If you don't want it, Eren, I'll take it!" Sasha offered, hand outstretched for his bread.

Mikasa smacked her hand away and turned back to Eren, ready to go full mother mode.

"Eren, what's wrong?"

Eren sighed and shook his head, not really wanting to get into it with her at the moment. Truth be told, there wasn't anything wrong with him physically, besides the usual soreness and exhaustion from training. His day hadn't been all bad either. He'd happily beat Jean in hand to hand and had managed to keep up well with Mikasa in the obstacle course, but he didn't know if that was from his skill or Mikasa taking pity on him. He hoped for the former. All in all, it would be considered a good day for him, but when dinnertime hit there came a heavy, nauseating feeling deep in his stomach. He didn't feel particularly sick, like throwing up or passing out, it was just an awful feeling. The kind a person gets right before they know something terrible is going to happen. The only problem was Eren had no idea why he was getting this sense of foreboding when the only thing he was anticipating was flopping into bed for the night.

"Are you feeling ill?" Armin asked in concern.

"No, I just have this really bad feeling in my stomach…hm, maybe I am getting sick," Eren pondered, resting his head in his hands and staring miserably at his food. Sighing in defeat, he shoved his tray in Sasha direction before standing up. "I'm heading back to the barracks. Maybe I just need some sleep."

"But you need to eat—," Mikasa started before getting cut off by Armin.

"He can eat breakfast in the morning, Mikasa, just let him take care of himself," the blond scolded, already anticipating an argument between his two friends. "If he isn't feeling well, I think some rest would be the best option."

"Thanks, Armin," Eren sighed gratefully. He really was in no mood to fight with Mikasa.

"Fine, but I'm making sure you're eating tomorrow, even if I have to shove it down your throat," Mikasa grumbled, returning to her own meal.

Eren shuddered, knowing full well she would follow through on that promise, she'd done it before after all. He left the mess hall with calls of 'goodnight' and 'hope you feel better' and one muffled thanks from Sasha who had stuffed the last of his food in her mouth. As the cadet walked back to the boys dorm he kept his eyes focused on the ground, eyebrows furrowed in frustrated confusion, when the sudden slamming of a door to his right caught him off guard.

Two people stormed angrily from the Instructors office. Well, the woman stormed away while the man hurriedly tried to keep up with her quick strides. Instructor Shadis opened his office door and watched them leave, his sunken eyes glaring after them, ensuring that they were in fact leaving. Lucky for Eren, he had walked far enough away not to be noticed by the strange people and his instructor, but was still close enough to hear what they said to each other. Or rather what Shadis shouted after the two retreating figures, who were rushing back to the carriage they assumedly came in.

"I don't want to see you or any one of your henchmen back in my training camp again without paperwork, understand?! If you go anywhere near him, I'll have your heads!" Shadis thundered, sufficiently scaring several cadets who were coming out of the mess hall. As if they didn't get enough his tyrannical voice during drills.

Eren watched the two invaders leave in their carriage. He couldn't quite make out their faces in the dark but he saw enough of the woman to feel like he knew her from somewhere, and wherever that place had been it didn't leave pleasant memories. He was about to turn and starting walking to his dorm again when a very familiar and equally unpleasant voice rang out into the night.

"Jaeger! My office! NOW!"

Eren winced and sadly turned away from the comfort of his bed towards his instructor, shoulders slumped and head beginning to pound. This night was seriously not ending like Eren had hoped.

As he approached Shadis he heard snickering and whispers coming from a group of cadets, one of whom was Eren's rival, Jean. In fact, he was the one instigating the rest into poking as much fun as they could into the situation. The brunette sent every ounce of loathing he had in his tired body towards the horse-faced asshole, before stepping inside the office and having the door slam shut behind him.

All his fear crashed back down on him as he stood by the door, fidgeting on the spot. It was only his third time in the office (the first two times both involving Jean and hastily bandaged wounds) but unlike those times, he didn't have a clue as to why Shadis wanted to speak with him. He'd only been walking back to his barrack after dinner, nothing too suspicious, especially for him. It certainly hadn't been anything to warrant a trip to the instructor's office and yet here he was.

"Jaeger, stop looking like you're about to wet yourself and sit down," Shadis ordered, pointing to the uncomfortable chair in front of his desk. His voice no longer held his fury from earlier, but instead it was soft and tired-sounding. He sounded just as Eren felt, exhausted and done with the day.

Eren quickly sat without a word, his back straight and his shoulders stiff. He sat on the very edge of the chair and tried to seem relaxed, but it was obvious he wasn't pulling it off. Shadis chose to ignore it, having grown used to his effect on his subordinates.

"I'm sure you saw what just happened. No point in hiding it now, I suppose," he sighed, leaning back in his own chair.

"Erm, sir? Who were those people? Why were they here?" Eren asked timidly, not wanting to overstep his boundaries.

"Bad news is what they are. I managed to scare them off, but I don't doubt they'll be back soon. Disgusting vultures," Shadis growled. "I called you in here because I want you watch your back for the next few weeks or at least be on guard. Those people, especially that woman, are ruthless when they want something."

"And they want…me? B-but why? What did I do?!""

"Calm the fuck down, Jaeger, you haven't done anything. Honestly, even I don't know what the hell they want with you, but I know it can't be anything good. Just watch out for yourself and if you see or hear anything, and I mean _anything_ you come straight to me, got it?"

"Er, well—,"

"Got it, Jaeger!?"

"Sir, yes, sir!" Eren yelled, jumping to his feet and saluting.

Shadis nodded and started flipping through the papers on his desk. "You're dismissed, Jaeger."

Eren practically tripped over himself in his effort to escape the very cramped office. The grounds were completely empty with everyone having already gone to bed. The cadet quickly walked back to his barrack; changed into his sleeping clothes, and climbed into the cot he shared with three other cadets, trying hard not to wake any of them. All his care didn't seem to work because just as Eren pulled his blanket up, Armin stirred and rolled over to stare sleepily at his friend.

"Where did you go? I thought you weren't feeling well?" he asked, keeping his soft blue eyes trained on his friend.

"I wasn't, still not to be honest, but I got called into Shadis's office when I was walking back," he explained in a low whisper. Remembering his strange encounter and even stranger conversation, Eren frowned in the dark. "Actually, before he called me in, I saw him screaming at these two people while they were leaving his office. He told them not to come back without the right papers or something like that. They looked terrified."

"Knowing Shadis, I'm not surprised they ran with their tails between their legs," Armin commented.

"Yeah, but that's not the weird part. That came later when Shadis and I were in his office. He said those people were after…someone here." Eren purposefully left out that person had been him, no need to worry Armin more than necessary. "And that I should keep an eye out for them."

"But why just tell you? Why not make an announcement saying if anyone sees anything suspicious they should report it. Seems like these people would be caught faster if the whole base were on guard," Armin whispered, thinking logically as usual.

Eren shrugged. "Maybe he'll make an announcement tomorrow; it was pretty late when it happened. I don't think Shadis wanted to deal with dragging everyone out of bed to tell them. He probably only told me tonight because I saw the whole thing already and doesn't want me spreading around rumors or something."

"But, Eren, isn't that what you're doing _now_?" Armin said, snickering quietly under his breath.

"No, I'm only relaying what Shadis told me, not spreading around something I made up. It's different," Eren huffed defensively. Honestly, he had no idea whether he was supposed to keep this to himself or not. "Armin, can you, um, not tell anyone about this? I don't know if Shadis wanted to keep this a secret or not."

"I can't see why he would, but I won't tell a soul. You know I'm not one for gossiping anyway," the blonde assured, rolling back over. "We should get to sleep, drills are going to be brutal tomorrow. Goodnight, Eren."

"Yeah, night," Eren mumbled. He tried to get comfortable but he doubted he'd be able to sleep with the events of that night swirling in his head.

Eren wasn't an important person. Sure, his father had been a popular doctor, but besides that he and his family had very little prestige. He was no different from the hundreds of others who lost their homes and loved ones when the wall fell. Nor was he any different from any other cadet in this base. Yes, his extreme nature and over-zealous views forced him to stand out among the other sheep, but that hardly count towards anything other than fighting. He was a good fighter, not the best but definitely above average. He certainly wasn't the smartest; he'd gladly give that title to Armin. The point was he really wasn't anything special, he wasn't too proud to admit that or let it keep him from pursing his goals either. So then why, all of a sudden, were people willing to go through someone as intimidating as Instructor Shadis to get to him?

Eren's head throbbed as he thought back to the two people. He was sure he'd seen that woman somewhere before, the familiarity was almost chilling, but any other details eluded him. The man he was sure he'd never met, but from the way he hovered around the woman, he was probably only her bodyguard. It was definitely the woman he should be focusing on. Not knowing where he's seen that woman before was so frustrating and was only make his head ache more.

Along with his head, there was still that awful churning in his stomach. His instincts were still trying to yell at him. Warning him of coming danger he couldn't see or hear. Before it had simply been a small pit in his stomach, nudging him to be careful, now it was like sirens were going off in his head. The feeling was like an infection, a disease, slowly rotting his insides and forcing anxiety to creep into his veins. His body was too jittery for sleep and throughout the night he restlessly rolled on his side of the cot, trying to catch some ounce of sleep before morning. It was futile, because by the time he could calm himself down, gray light began to filter through the windows and around him his fellow cadets began to stir. The night was over and Eren had stayed awake through it all. That day was going to be brutal.


	3. Chapter 2

**Hey guys! So here's chapter 2 of my Project Titan series! I'm hoping to uploads these once a week, but depending on my schedule and my work ethic, it might be a bit longer. I hope you guys enjoy and I do appreciate reviews!**

 **Chapter 2- Second First Meeting**

The next couple days after that first strange night only progressed further and further downhill for Eren. That feeling never left him; in fact, it only intensified with each passing day. It grew like an infestation in his stomach, gnawing at his insides and thriving on his fear. His sleep pattern was becoming erratic and was definitely affecting his performance during training. Mikasa was, of course, quick to notice.

"Eren, seriously, what's wrong?" she asked him one night during dinner.

"Nothing's wrong, Mikasa. I've just been having trouble sleeping," Eren mumbled his reply, suppressing a yawn.

"I thought something might be up, Jaeger, even you aren't _this_ bad during training," Jean retorted from across the aisle.

Eren glared and was about to jump to his feet when Mikasa's hand came down on his shoulder, holding him in place. She gave him a warning look that had him mumbling unintelligently under his breath and turning back to his food.

Armin watched the interaction neutrally. He had an idea as to what could be wrong with Eren, but with his promise still in place he couldn't say anything. It didn't stop him from worrying though, nor did it keep him from trying to figure out why his friend seemed so freaked out. If it was about that night, Eren shouldn't be this nervous over it. It didn't really have anything to do with him, right? Armin didn't fully understand, and it brought on a lot of frustration, which led to him cornering Eren after dinner one night for answers.

"Eren, I know you're a bit upset about what happened the other night, but I'm starting to really worry about you," Armin started, not wanting to scare away his friend. "This level of anxiety seems a bit unnecessary, don't you think? And don't try to hide it; I know there's something more you're not telling me."

Eren's wild eyes quickly stared around, looking for any eavesdroppers. Finding none, he looked back to his best friend and sighed. He should have known he couldn't hide anything from Armin.

"Look, I didn't tell you because I didn't want you freaking out and telling Mikasa. Knowing her, she would probably lock me in a room somewhere until this blew over or after she goes on a rampage."

"I'll keep my mouth shut, but if you get any worse, Eren, I'm going to have to tell her. We care about you, and we just want to help, even if Mikasa takes it a bit too far sometimes," Armin said.

"Thanks, Armin," Eren sighed in relief. "I'm sorry I've been a bit off lately. I'm trying to get myself together."

"But why are you freaking out in the first place? Does it have to do with the other night?" Armin asked, brows furrowed.

Eren took a deep breath and muttered, "Remember how I said those people were after someone here?"

"Yes, but wha—." Armin froze in realization, his words hanging unfinished in the air as his blue eyes widened in shock. "They're after you."

He said it in a low whisper of horror, but it was loud enough for Eren to hear and nod his head sadly.

"Yeah, that was the real reason Shadis called me into his office. He wanted me to watch my back and report if I see anyone suspicious," Eren said, leaning against the side of the building they were hiding behind.

"But why not get the entire base on guard?" Armin pondered curiously.

"I don't know, maybe doesn't want everyone to panic? I'm sure he's probably told the assistants working here, but I can understand why he didn't tell the cadets. Honestly, I wish he hadn't told me. I've been an absolute mess these past few days because of it," Eren groaned, letting his head dip down tiredly. "It feels like there's a ball of steel in my stomach and it gets worse every day."

"Maybe it's your instincts warning you? You started feeling ill a few hours before you saw those people right? It could be your bodies way of telling you something big is coming," the blonde reasoned.

Eren snorted at that. "So I'm subconsciously psychic?"

"I don't think you're psychic, Eren, I think it's like how an animal can sense a storm coming. You just have naturally heightened instincts."

"I don't know whether to be offended at being compared to an animal or flattered that you think I have heightened senses," Eren teased, elbowing his friend.

Armin rolled his eyes. "Don't let it go to your head." He quickly looked around the corner of the building, watching anxiously as he found less people wondering about and the night fires being lit.

"We should get going, curfew's about to be called."

With that in mind, the two cadets quickly made their way back to their dorm. They didn't know if they would get in trouble for being out so they did their best to avoid any patrollers. After ducking into the boy's barracks and dressing for bed, they slipped into their cots. Around them, the other boys were either getting ready for bed as well or were talking quietly to each other in the dark. No one paid them any mind when they came in a bit late.

"Eren, I think you should stop focusing so much on it. It's clearly not healthy," Armin whispered, continuing the conversation low enough that the other's couldn't pick up what he said if they happen to hear. "If something is going to happen, then it's going to happen, whether you want it to or not. Just think about other things and worry about it when or if it happens."

"Yeah, Armin, you're right. I'll just focus more on my fighting and let whatever happens happen. Who knows? Maybe I'm blowing all this out of proportion and nothing's going to go wrong."

"Wouldn't be the first time," Armin muttered, earning a light-hearted glare from Eren and a soft punch in the shoulder that wouldn't even leave a bruise. Armin giggled and yawned, rolling over and wishing his friend a good night.

Eren sighed and pulled his blanket up, feeling a bit more confident. The knot in his stomach even lightened slightly. Maybe Armin was right and it was all a mental thing. If that was the case then Eren would damn well make sure he didn't lose to his own insecurities. He'd fight the feeling just as hard as he'd fight the titans, until every last bit of it was gone.

Feeling lighter than he had all day, Eren slipped into peaceful dreams of disintegrating titan bodies and the feeling of flying through the sky.

* * *

Eren's confident words seemed to have jinxed the poor boy because the very next day everything simply tumbled out of his control and essentially destroyed all he had worked so hard to accomplish.

The morning started off normal as ever. Get up, dress, eat breakfast, toss a couple punches Jean's way, and eventually drag his reluctant butt to training. There was really nothing out of place from any other day. That is, until after lunch, when Eren was unceremoniously hauled off the field by an anxious looking assistant and led to Shadis's office.

The first thing the brunette noticed when he entered was that the blinds were drawn on the windows, throwing the room into darkness that was only dispelled by a few lit candles. The room was cool compared to the blistering heat outside and while it would have been a nice reprieve from his intense training, Eren was having a very hard time relaxing. His instructor was sat behind his desk as usual but sitting in one of the two chairs placed in front of the desk was someone Eren had seen twice before, but had never truly met.

"Ah, and here he is!" exclaimed the black-haired woman. Her beautiful face held absolute delight but Eren could see the friendliness didn't quite reach her cold and very strange violet eyes.

The boy shuddered at her voice but hid his discomfort from the rest of the room. He'd heard that low, icy tone only once in his lifetime, but he couldn't mistake the voice of the woman his father had argued with so many years ago, Violet. He certainly didn't forget her odd interest in him or the threat she had made on her departure from their home.

"Er, you wanted to see me, sir?" Eren asked his instructor, purposely ignoring the woman. He wanted to hold off whatever horrible conversation Violet wanted to bring up.

"Jaeger, come in and sit down. We have a lot to discuss it seems," grumbled Shadis, clearly very displeased to have this woman in his office again.

Eren nervously sat in the chair next to Violet, who was watching him intently. He squirmed under her gaze but tried very hard to keep still.

"This is Ms. Violet Drake. She's the—."

"I'm the director of a very special organization under the government, Mr. Jaeger," Violet cut in, earning a distasteful glare from Shadis. "We are in charge of a few projects that will hopefully help us understand the titans a bit better, with the help of the Survey Corp, of course."

She seemed to add that last bit as a way of cooling Shadis off a bit, as if acknowledging the military's help in this would somehow make him like her and her cause a little more. From the look on the Instructors face, it wasn't working.

"You see, Eren, not too long ago we started a very interesting experiment that we've named Project Titan. Along with plenty of knowledge on the titans we might even be able to take back Wall Maria!" Violet continued, excitedly.

"Wow, really? This project is that important?" Eren asked, astonished.

"Oh yes, it's incredibly important! The results of this project could lead to exponential possibilities! But we have run into a slight problem…" Violet's words became thoughtful and regretfully as she spoke. "Sadly, we just don't have enough test subjects to follow through on the experiment, and because of this, it's put our research to a halt."

Violet suddenly perked up and leaned forward towards Eren, her unnerving eyes gleaming with hope. "This is where you come in Eren."

"Me?! B-but what can I do? I'm just a soldier," Eren exclaimed.

"You may think you're not exceptional, but trust me when I say, you're absolutely perfect for this! Truthfully, you're probably the only one in this entire base suitable enough to become a test subject."

Eren frowned at that. What made him so different from everyone else on the base? He wasn't that special was he? Surely, they could find anyone else to fill that position.

"So, what would happen if I didn't agree to it?" Eren finally said, carefully. He wouldn't say he was afraid of this unknown project, he had too much pride for that, but he couldn't deny he wanted to be cautious. His father hadn't trusted this woman, and Eren wasn't going to either, not without some proof to her trustworthiness.

Violet's face hardened just slightly, before she schooled her expression into one of disappointment. "Well, if you didn't agree, we'd have to keep searching for someone else then, a feat that could take far too long to be helpful."

Again, the boy remained cautious. Now, Eren wasn't the brightest of the bunch but he could sense a lie when he was paying attention, and her little slip of anger hadn't gone unnoticed by him.

"And if I agree? What would happen to me then?"

"If you agree, you'd be transferred to our facility with the other subjects and we'd begin the experiment!" Violet said, perkily.

"And what about my sister? And my friends? Will I get to see them?" Eren asked.

Violet's face fell slightly, but the sympathy was only surface deep. "I'm afraid you wouldn't be able to see them for quite some time. We want this project to remain a secret, so if you do decide to accept, we'll have to leave immediately."

"I won't even get to say goodbye?"

"I'm afraid not. It's better this way though, trust me," Violet replied, placing one of her hands on Eren's in an attempt at comfort. He shook it off and kept his eyes hard. Violet's face flatted.

"Well, Eren, I think we've chatted enough. Now, you need to decide whether or not you want to join this project. Keep in mind, this experiment could be the tipping point between the war against the titan's and having subjects for it, is extremely crucial."

 _No pressure then._

Eren frowned and looked to Shadis for any help, who was almost forgotten in the tense atmosphere. Without giving too much away, the instructor slowly shook his head, trying not to be noticed by Violet. That was good enough for Eren.

"Look, I really appreciate the offer but I don't think it would be a good idea for me to go. I mean, I'm really not that special, so I'm sure you could find someone else just as capable," Eren declined, trying to stay neutral in his answer. He certainly didn't want Violet knowing he didn't trust a word she said.

Instead of growing angry Violet sighed in resigned disappointment. From the subtle slips of rage, Eren had assumed she would lose it when he said he didn't want to go and from Shadis expression he had expected the same thing.

"I'm sad to hear that, Eren, I was really hoping we'd be civil about this," the dark-haired woman replied, opening the briefcase next to her chair and pulling out a set of papers. "I didn't really want to bring these out but you seemed to have forced my hand."

She handed the papers to Shadis, who's eyes were narrowed skeptically at the papers. Reading through them, his sunken eyes slowly widened into shock.

"How is this—how did you—," the instructor muttered, flipping through the papers rapidly as if reading over them again would change the words.

Violet smiled smugly while Eren stared in confusion.

"What's wrong, Instructor Shadis?"

"Eren…I'm afraid you don't have a choice…you have to go with her," Shadis managed to say, sighing in defeat and putting the papers on the desk. Eren snatched up the papers before Violet could take them and quickly read over them.

There were a lot of complicated words Eren didn't know the meaning of but skimming it over he understood the gist of it. According to the records, Eren was already under contract for the experiment and said contract stated that custody of Eren went completely to the Atlas Corporation, whatever that was. Eren was considered "property" of this corporation, and if any were to interfere with that arrangement, including Eren himself, they would be arrested. Lastly, at the bottom of the contract was Grisha Jaeger's signature, signing over all custody of Eren.

"But-but, why would he…?" Eren stared in horror at the sheets of paper before looking up into Violet's triumphant face.

"I told you I wanted to be civil but you had to be stubborn, like your father," sighed the smug woman, getting to her feet. "Now, if we're done here—."

"Wait! Don't I get any say in this?!" Eren exclaimed, jumping to his feet. He couldn't hold the angry swelling inside any longer.

"Jaeger! Sit down!" snapped Shadis. Eren immediately obeyed. "Jaeger, I know this isn't what you want, but according to these papers, you don't have a choice. I'm sorry."

Eren blinked. Did his instructor just apologize to him? Well, there was a first for everything.

Violet strolled casually to the door and opened it. "Come now, boy. We'll have to grab your belongings and then it's a long trip to Wall Sina."

"W-wall Sina?!" Eren said. He'd never that far in his life!

"Yes, that is where our facility is located, now if you have any other questions." Violet waved to the door. Eren reluctantly stood and march stiffly to the door. He'd go along with them, but there was no way in hell he would cooperate with whatever 'project they were working on.

"Jaeger," Shadis called, catching the boy's attention. "Leave your uniform in the barracks."

Eren swallowed hard and nodded, not meeting his instructor's stern gaze. He left the office and missed Violet's wicked grin as she followed him out.

In his barracks, Eren was allowed to be left alone while he changed and packed what little items he owned. All the cadets were out training so the immediate area was empty and no one would notice Eren's absence until dinner, even Mikasa would be too busy. When he finally slung his duffle bag over his shoulder, dressed in civilian clothing, he neatly folded his uniform and sat it on his side of the cot. That abandoned uniform was the last reminder of his hard work in the military, all his hopes of joining the Survey Corp and defeating the titans, and all the trials he'd gone through since the wall fell. He had to leave it behind, leave it all behind, because of an icy woman and his father's betrayal. His life was so cruel.

 _She did say this project would help get rid of the titans, at least. Maybe this won't sidetrack his goal that much,_ Eren thought to himself.

Sighing, Eren turned and left, nervously stopping when two of Violet's men, who were standing on either side of door, came to meet him.

"Come on, brat, we're leaving," one of the bulky bodyguards said, nodding towards the road where a decent looking carriage sat waiting to bring him to his fate.

Just as he was about to climb inside, shouts rang out through the air and Eren turned to see his sister and friends rushing towards him, fear and worry clear on their faces, even Jean was curious about where the hell Eren was going. The two guards instantly blocked their paths and scowled at them while Violet placed a dainty hand on his shoulder and tried to steer him into the carriage.

"It's better this way," she assured in a false sugary tone.

That was the last straw for Eren. He could deal with having his life steering off another path but he sure as hell wasn't going to cause unnecessary pain to his loved ones by not saying goodbye. Before any of them could react, Eren shot out from under her hand and snaked between the guards, dropping his bag in the process. The brunette wrapped his arms around his sister and best friend, pulling them into a tight hug.

"Eren! Where are they taking you? Where are you going?" Mikasa frantically said, clutching her brother and glaring at the carriage.

"I have to go away, Mikasa. I don't know when I'll be back, but—."

"What the hell's going on, Jaeger?" Reiner asked from the back of the small group.

"You're not quitting are you?" sneered Jean, liking the idea a bit too much. Marco frowned disapprovingly, knowing exactly what Jean was thinking.

"No, I'm not quitting, horse-face," Eren snapped. "I'm just going away for a bit, but I'm not allowed to say why or where."

"Wow, that's not creepy," snorted Connie.

"Why can't you tell us, Eren?" Krista interjected, baby blues wide and worried.

"Because it is classified information," came a cold, displeased voice behind Eren. He shuttered and pulled away, sending a glare towards the dark-haired woman. "And we need to be going. So, if you're done talk with your little friends…"

Violet held the carriage door open, keeping her face neutral but it was obvious she wasn't pleased.

Mikasa grabbed Eren's arm and pulled him behind her. "Like hell you're taking him anywhere," she snarled.

"Mikasa, I can take care of myself!" said Eren in exasperation. Secretly, he was glad his sister's protective instincts kicked in. He didn't want to make it too easy for these people after all.

"Enough of this foolishness," Violet growled. She snapped her fingers and one of the guards grabbed Eren and hauled him into the carriage while the other snagged Mikasa around the waist when she tried to grab at him.

The second Violet climbed in and closed the door behind them, all hell broke loose outside. The cadets that had come to rescue Eren started fighting with the two guards. Sasha, Connie, and Jean were helping Mikasa take down the guard restraining her, Jean wanting to help Mikasa more than save Eren. Reiner was handling the other guard by himself while Bertolt was trying to pull him off the bodyguard. The other friends stood to the side, either not caring enough to help or knowing that fighting two people just doing their jobs wouldn't get them anywhere. Eren watched all this from the carriage window, silently appreciative of his friends attempt at helping him.

Finally, the base assistants and Instructor Shadis himself came to investigate and pull the cadets off the men. Shadis shouted himself hoarse at their embarrassing and childish display. The two men pulled themselves together after being assaulted by several teenager and quickly climbed on the front of the carriage to drive them away.

Eren watched them sadly as they pulled away. He could see Mikasa and Armin staring after him, anger, pain, and confused sadness written all over their faces. If she wasn't being told off at the moment, Eren had no doubt in his mind that she'd be chasing after the carriage.

Violet scoffed at their juvenile acts and turned to Eren, still wearing that infuriating smug face of hers. Eren glared at her.

"See? That wasn't so bad now was it?" she said, arrogantly. The brunette turned away from her and watched the world pass them by outside his window, letting the depression sink in and consume him as he was taken away from his family and his future.


	4. Chapter 3

**Viola! Chapter 3 has finally arrived! Yes, the story is starting out a bit slow, but trust me, it'll pick up the next few chapter.**

 **As a reply to Jazz: Thank you for reviewing my story! And I'm glad you picked up on the Atlas titan thing I was going for and yes there will be more subjects. This is where the OC part of the story comes into place and I'm quite proud of my creativity when making them!**

 **Hope y'all enjoy! And hopefully I'll have the next chapter out soon!**

* * *

 **Chapter 3: The Facility**

Sometime along the journey towards the inner wall, Eren had let his sleep deprived brain take over, but sadly even the blissfulness of sleep was taken away from.

"Wake up, boy," Violet said, shaking his shoulder. When Eren jolted awake, she sat back and smirked at him.

"I want to give you a little run down of this project and your expectations for it," she continued.

Eren groaned but sat up a bit straighter and nodded. He'd be lying if he said, he wasn't curious about where he was going and what these damn people wanted with him.

"Now, this might be a bit of a long explanation, since the project can be quite complicated, but I'll shorten it for you," Violet said, with her sickly sweet smile. "The reason this organization is kept such a secret is because our experiments are not…public friendly. You see, we experiment on titans and titan DNA. You know what DNA is right?"

"Er, sort of?" Eren said, clueless.

"DNA is the genetic make-up of every living thing. Everything that lives in this world is made of DNA; titans, humans, animals, you get the idea," Violet explained. "But you see, the important thing about DNA, is it can be manipulated under the right circumstances."

"And what would happen when you 'manipulate' DNA?" asked Eren, paying extra close attention. He didn't want to come off as stupid to this woman, nor did he want to miss anything about the project he was being thrown into.

Violet nonchalantly smoothed her dress and sat up a bit straighter. "Depending on how a subjects DNA is manipulated would decide the results. The effects could be drastic, life-altering even, or they could be so miniscule that you might never notice."

"This is what we plan to do with our biggest project, which we've dubbed Project Titan. Vague and simple, perfect for keeping secrets, don't you think?" Violet said, haughtily.

"I suppose so?" Eren muttered, slightly disturbed. "So, this is the project you want me for right?"

"Exactly, Eren. You, along with eleven other subjects, will be tested and observed over the duration of this project, which we estimate to be at most two years—."

"Two years! I'll be stuck here for two years?! Will I get to visit my friends, at least?" Eren exclaimed, horrified.

Violet sighed, putting on a show of regret and sympathy. "I'm afraid not, sweetie. You have to stay in the facility, for public safety as well as your own. This experiment is very fragile and unpredictable so we have to take as many precautions as we can."

Eren swallowed and looked down at his lap. "So, I'll be alone for two years?"

"Alone? No, no, you won't be alone. You'll have the other subjects to keep you company and you're all around the same age so you should get along well with them!" Violet disagreed happily. "But anyway, after I've given a bit of an introduction, I should preface my next words with a warning. This project may seem like a terrible thing at first, but I want you to listen and let me completely explain before you interrupt or protest, okay?"

Eren nodded, thinking getting ripped away from his friends was the worse he'd have to endure.

"Right then. Now, with Project Titan, our goal is to create powerful but controllable titans. How we plan to do that is by tinkering with the DNA of twelve subjects in order to give them the ability to manifest titan bodies and control them."

"You're going to turn me into a titan?!" Eren yelped, jumping in his seat and staring at Violet in utter horror. And here he thought this situation couldn't get any worse.

"Did I not just ask you to listen and not interrupt until I was done explaining?" Violet said, stiffly. Eren froze under her piercing gaze and shivered.

"S-sorry, I'll keep quiet now," Eren insisted, burying himself back in his seat as if he hoped to sink through it.

Violet nodded sharply and continued, "You will not completely be turned into a titan. You won't feel the need to eat anyone and most of the time you'll still be in your human body. This experiment will simply allow you to summon a titan body, which you would control from the inside, still in your human form."

Seeing the blank stare on Eren's face Violet quickly replied with a small laugh, "I'm sorry, it seems I've made that sound much more complicated than necessary! Truthfully, it will be easier to understand once you've gone through the process and transform for the first time."

"A-and all of this is…safe?" Eren asked, dubiously.

"Well, as safe as any early stage experiment can be, but don't worry, we've already successfully transformed the other eleven subjects. You're the last one we're accepting into the project. Lucky you!"

The boy had to admit, it was a somewhat calming thought knowing he wasn't the first to go through this.

"So, why is this project so important it has to be kept a secret?"

"Ah! Yes, my favorite part! You see, Eren, with a small army of these special titans we can learn so much more about the titans and we would be able to combat them! Who knows? It could even lead to taking back Wall Maria." Violet ended her little announce with a slight, secret smile. Eren, however, wasn't paying any attention to her. At the moment he was trying hard to fight back the swell of hope and excited in his chest when she said those words. Did this mean he had a chance at going home? Would he actually be able to use the strange key his father gave him? It sounded much too good to be true.

When Eren pulled himself out of his stupor, Violet was watching him closely. No, she was staring at his chest.

"What is that around your neck?" she asked innocently.

"Hm? Oh, it's my key…well, it's my dad's key," he replied, holding the key up where it glinted in the sunlight streaming through the window. "He gave it to me after Wall Maria fell."

"Interesting…" Violet mumbled to herself.

Growing uncomfortable under Violet intense stare, Eren tucked the key away under his shirt. Violet refocused on Eren's face and gave him a reassuringly smile.

"So, are you excited to meet your fellow subjects!" Violet asked, rekindling her earlier excitement.

"Um, I guess…?" Eren said, startled by the sudden attempted at conversation.

"You're all around the same age, as well, so you shouldn't have to worry about getting along with everyone. I will warn you though, some of them can be quite, er…expressive," Violet added hesitantly.

"Can't wait…" Eren begrudgingly said, turning back to the window when the conversation seemed to die.

The brunette didn't know what to make of this strange and sometimes scary woman to be honest. At times she seemed like an easy enough person to talk to and then like the flick of switch she's hostile and cold. This unpredictability in her personality made her a very unpleasant person to Eren and through the entire talk, he remained on edge. When they were both remaining quiet, Eren still kept on his toes, watching her out of the corner of his eye and keeping his hands balled into fists on his lap. Even if he had never heard of this woman before he would still never feel relaxed around her or trust her in anyway. There was simply something sinister about her aura.

Violet looked out the window of the carriage and spoke again.

"Ah, we're almost there," she said, in a more subdued voice. Eren was really getting tired of this woman's bipolar changes in mood.

"But there's nothing but forest out here," the boy replied, staring dumbfounded at the thick lining of trees along the bumpy, overgrown road.

"Yes, the facility is located in the middle of this forest to keep it hidden from any wondering eyes," Violet explained.

She seemed to time this sentence perfectly, because she finished speaking the forest thinned slightly and finally parted into a large clearing. In the center of this area was a huge, stone structure that appeared to be a clunky box shape. The gray outer walls were covered in creeping ivy and dead plants; the stone itself chipped, weather-beaten, and even hosting several long, spindly cracks. The place looked like it had abandoned for decades but there were a few giveaways to what it actually was, like the shiny steel door bolted to the entrance and the windows neatly boarded up with strips of metal and wood.

"Erm, nice camouflage?" Eren pointed out as the carriage pulled to a stop in front of the metal door.

"Ha! I'm surprised you caught onto that so quickly!" replied Violet delightedly. "Yes, we picked this building and let the plant life grow over so it would seem like just another rundown ruin and hopefully it won't attract any attention."

Eren nodded and then followed the dark-haired woman out of the carriage with his duffle bag draped over his shoulder and an apprehensive look.

"I'll take you to your room so you can get settled in and afterward you're more than welcome to meet the other subjects in the common room," she continued as the two henchmen opened the steel door and allowed Eren and Violet through and into small, bare room with two more iron doors on each side.

First impressions of the facility were cold, dim, and musty. Once the warmth seeping through the front door vanished with a loud thud, it was like walking into an underground cavern. The walls were made of the same ugly stone as the outside but this time devoid of plant life. Honestly, it probably would have made it less creepy. The only lights were small gas lamps hung on the walls because the ventilation wasn't good enough for torches, or so Violet said. The air was humidly chilly and made it hard to breathe in normally. Everything about this place screamed wrong but before Eren could freak out too much, Violet placed her hand on his shoulder and steered him through the right hand door.

Eren let himself be led down an empty corridor and at the end stood another door, but this one had a series of steel locks. Violet pulled out a set of keys and efficiently opened the door. On the other side of the door stood a spiral staircase that wound down into the unknown abyss.

"Watch your step now, it's a bit difficult to see," Violet advised. Eren thought she should take her own advice considering the height of her heels.

The walk down was quiet expect for the soft stepping of their shoes on the stone. The lamps were spaced evenly along the walls and as they descended the air grew to frigid temperatures. Their breaths huffed out in smoky mist.

At the bottom of the staircase sat another door with many locks and bolts. Violet stepped forward and unlocked this door as well. Eren was trying to figure out how her hands didn't shake from the cold, because his definitely were.

With a flourish of her hand, Violet swung open the door and strolled inside. Eren trailed cautiously after her before being shoved by the guards following them. He'd almost forgotten they were there.

"Welcome to Atlas Corporate: you're new home," Violet said, with a reptilian smile.

Eren stared around the room, taking it all in. The room itself was large and circular, with fourteen steel doors, including the door they just walked through and a high ceiling with odd little holes spaced around the edge. Half of the room was devoted to what looked like a small living area with a lumpy red couch, a couple squishy chairs, a coffee table covered in cracks and stains, and an old, beat-up chest. The other half of the room held a huge, circular table that would have looked extravagant in its early days, but was now battered and chipped. Around the table, sat twelve equally aged chairs, one of which looked like the back had been chewed on. All in all, it didn't give off a very welcoming feeling.

"This is the common room, where you'll be meeting the rest of the subjects and spending a good amount of your time, in between testing and training, of course. That door over there is a communal shower and bathroom." She nodded to the door on the exact opposite side of the room.

Sudden movement caught Eren's eye and he turned to look at one of the bedroom doors, which was barely cracked open. The inside was dark, but there was enough to see the singular brown eye staring out at him. It watched him intently, without even blinking, before the door slammed shut. The brunette shuttered, could this place get any creepier?

Violet didn't seem to notice the odd encounter. She walked to one of the doors and opened it, revealing a small bedroom. "This will be your room. The other doors are obviously for the other subjects. Now, we do have a few rules…"

Violet stopped to look Eren in the eye, all trace of fake warmth gone and replaced with sternness.

"You are not allowed in anyone else's room without their permission. There will be no fighting, what so ever. You cannot use your abilities outside the testing chambers and arena. And lastly, you cannot leave this this area of the facility without an escort, understood?"

"Yes, ma'am, " Eren mumbled. He stepped inside his new room and tossed his duffle bag on the worn cot. The room wasn't spectacular but it definitely beat sharing with twenty other cadets. The mattress on the bed was thin and well used. There was a small desk and chair across from the bed and a tattered old chest at the foot of this bed, where he would keep his belongings.

"Well, I suppose I'll leave you to get situated and meet the others. Most of them should be back soon from testing and dinner will be brought down in about an hour and you'll start the procedure tomorrow morning, so I suggest you get a good amount of sleep." With that Violet left with her two henchmen, seeming all too pleased to get away.

Eren sighed and sat on his cot. All the built up anxiety, sadness, and fear that had been lost in all the excitement came flooding back in. His old life was over and by tomorrow he would become a monster. He would be transformed into the very thing he loathed: a titan. The situation truly was hopeless wasn't it? He wouldn't finish his training. He wouldn't join the Survey Corp. He wouldn't get the revenge he so desperately wanted. Hell, he didn't even know if he would ever see his friends again…

Just the thought of never seeing Mikasa and Armin again twisted his gut and brought tears to his eyes, but he stubbornly pushed them back. He wasn't going to cry now. He'd cried over too many things already.


	5. Chapter 4

**Hello everyone! I'm so excited to be posting this up finally! This chapter might get a bit confusing for those of you who has a hard time remembering characters, so I'll be posting up a list of the titan subjects and a description of their titan.**

 **Also! One of the new characters is actually based off of me and my best friend in real life, let's see if you can figure out who I am ;) the answer might be a bit of a surprise!**

 **And to Alex: I'm glad you're liking the story and I have considered doing ErenxMikasa but with a hint of OC jealously, but I haven't fully decided yet.**

 **Hope y'all enjoy this chapter and reviews are greatly appreciated! 3**

* * *

 **Chapter 4: Meet Your Fellow Freaks**

"Hey, are you okay?" came a small, timid voice from his open door.

Eren jumped and hastily wiped the last of his tears away before looking towards the door. Standing just outside his room was a girl around his age with wide, doe-like brown eyes. Waves of curled, mousy brown hair hung down around her waist and around her head sat a homemade flower crown of wilting white daisies. Her lovely face was sprinkled with freckles and her rose-petal lips were turned up in a small smile. Her pale dress, innocent features, and flower halo gave her the appearance of an angel. All she was missing were the wings.

All the boy could do was gap at her, stunned. Her smile faded slightly in concern.

"You're the new subject right? The last one?" the angel asked, taking a hesitant step into the room, as if she were afraid of scaring him.

"Um, yeah. I'm the last subject," Eren replied, coming back to his senses and staring at the floor.

"Hey, don't look so down. This place isn't all bad and the rest of us really aren't terrible company," she said, tilting her head and smiling. Even her soft voice was angelic, it was airy and sweet, like music.

"I'm Eren. Eren Jaeger," the boy said, relaxing a bit more. At least this girl was nice to him.

"The people that work here call me Angel-." Eren completely understood why. "-but my real name is Guinevere Gray, Gwen for short."

"How come the people working here don't call you by your name?"

"Oh, because Angel is my titan's name, so that's what they call me. It's the same with everyone else. You'll probably get a titan name too after you transform for the first time," Gwen explained, calmly. "Most of us prefer to go by our real names truthfully."

Eren shuddered again, just thinking about what lay ahead of him tomorrow had his stomach rolling.

"Would you like to come meet the others? I think most of them are back now," she said, turning to look into the common room. "I should warn you though, some of them aren't really…quite right in the head."

"Violet said something like that before," Eren recalled.

Gwen stared at him. "You call Ms. Drake by her first name?"

She whispered the question as if it were a forbidden topic and just mentioning their warden's name would cause trouble.

Eren frowned. "Yeah, she told me to call her that."

"Huh…" was all Gwen said before she perked up again, giving her lovely smile. "She must like you then. Most of us are punished for saying her first name."

This news shocked Eren and he was about to ask what punishment they could possibly get for simply saying a name, when a suddenly loud voice interrupted.

"Ey! We finally got the newbie!" the boisterous voice said. "And here we thought you'd never show!"

The owner of the voice appeared next to Gwen, leaning against the doorframe and giving Eren a crooked smirk. This new arrival dressed like a girl, with their plain blouse and short black skirt and their pixie-ish haircut could be feminine, but the strong jawline and broad shoulders gave them a tough, masculine look. Her devious yellow eyes seemed to almost glow in the dim light of the room. Eren barely recognized any of these features though, because the only thing he could focus on were this person's ears and the horrid thing behind them.

Sensing his stare, the newcomers smile widened, revealing pointed canines, while her eyes glowed mischievously. "Like my tail? It's such a useful little thing, but it's really a shame it doesn't have any fur, eh?"

"A-and the ears?" Eren stammered, looking away from the tail to stare at the naked, cat-like ears poking out from her ashy, dark blonde hair.

"Oh, just another lovely feature courtesy of Atlas Corp!" the cat-human laughed, the slit pupils of her eyes contracting in excitement. "Aren't I just the cutest little freak?"

"Riah, don't scare him, he just got here," chastised Gwen, quietly. "And you are not a freak. You're just…unique is all."

Riah threw her head back and let out a terrifying, high-pitched laugh that wouldn't have been out of place in a mental asylum.

"Ah, ain't you just the sweetest? Don't got a mean bone in your body do you, Gweny?" snickered Riah, bumping her hip against Gwen's.

Gwen smiled and shrugged. Honestly, the more Eren stared at this beautiful girl the more she reminded him of Krista Lenz. The two could practically be sisters.

"Well, come on, Eren. Don't you want to meet the others?" asked Gwen, holding out her hand. Eren looked at it for a moment before he shakily took it and was led out into the common room.

Sitting in various places around the room were eight other teenagers, most very close to Eren's age while a couple seemed much older or younger. They had all been talking to each other while one of them, a tiny blonde boy who couldn't be older than eight, was digging through the chest and pulling out various toys and games. When Eren and the other two walked in, the conversation immediately died and the only sounds were the rustling coming from the chest.

"Alright, bitches, listen up," Riah started, grabbing Eren's arm and thrusting him into the center of the room. "Newbie here is gonna introduce himself and then y'all are gonna say yer real and titan names, got it?"

A mumbled compliance ran around the room and all eyes were on Eren.

"Um, my name's Eren Jaeger," he said, nervously.

"Where ya from, Jaeger-boy?" asked a girl sprawled out on the couch. This one was probably just as crazy-looking as Riah, with her half-shaven black hair, olive-toned skin, and thick glasses, but what really made her stand out were the strange, tribal tattooing that ran across her cheek, down around her neck and left arm, and ending at her index finger. The design was comprised of swirls in many different colors, some of which Eren had never seen before. Mixed into the rainbow waves were music notes, animal prints, and more horrifically, bits of white bone and black smoke skulls. It was quite beautiful in its own disturbing way.

"Well, I'm from Shiganshina, or I was, at least. Before I came here I was almost half-way through training to join to the Survey Corp—."

"Ha! You wanted to join that suicide squad? You're either brave as hell or retarded as shit," mocked the tattoo girl, rolling in her seat and hitting the stoic-faced boy next to her.

Eren teal eyes darkened and he was about to give his usual speech about humanities fight against the titan when a deathly quiet voice halted his tirade.

"Hannah, shut the fuck up, your shrieking is giving me a headache," sneered a platinum blonde girl with sharp violet eyes. She turned her cold look onto Eren and he could swear he'd seen those eyes before. "And last I checked we didn't want your life story, kid."

"Oh, Lily, always so rude," sighed another blonde who had to be Lily's twin sister. She was absolutely identical to the scary girl but her eyes were wider and her face held a lovely blank serenity. Her purple eyes even seemed a bit dazed and her small smile was airy. This girl really didn't look all there.

"Alright, everyone shut up! We were doing introduction and we're gonna FUCKING FINISH THEM!" snarled Riah, eyes flashing and fangs bared. "Anyone who interrupts gets their throat slashed!"

The room quieted and Eren shrunk to the edge of the room. He had never seen someone so violent, but the rest of them were unimpressed. That Lily girl even rolled her eyes.

Riah straightened up and plastered her wild smile back on her face as if nothing happened. "Alright, I'll go first!" She hauled Eren back to the center and cleared her throat. "You already know my nickname, but I'll still introduce myself. Name's Mariah Hart, but the people here call me Kitty 'cause, ya know, my deformities. Gwen already told you her name so we'll start with the twins."

Lily rolled her eyes again and lazily drawled, "Lily Drake, and that's Dove. We share a titan body named Gemini, so everyone calls Dove Gem and me Mini. Stupid, isn't it?"

"Hello," breathed Dove, in her dreamy voice. Dove looked very uninterested in the conversation and her head began to sway side to side.

"Wait, you _share_ a titan body?" asked Eren, incredulous.

"Mm, as bizarre as it seems, it's true. Apparently it's the _deformity_ the lab-coats couldn't fix. Image how long it took for us to figure out we had to transform together? Those bastards thought there was something wrong with us," explained Lily, indifferently.

There was that word again, deformity. Riah had said it earlier when describing her ears and tail. Did the others have deformities because of this experiment? On the surface, the rest of them looked pretty normal, besides the tattoo girl, but Eren knew better than to take something, or someone, at face value.

"Will I have some kind of…deformity?" Eren asked, shakily.

"You could, yeah. Most of us don't really have differences in our human bodies, but our titan bodies are all very different from normal titans. Which in some cases, is a good thing," Gwen said, smiling reassuringly. Eren relaxed and turned back to the rest of the room.

"Can I introduce myself now?" asked a tiny girl practically buried in one of the chair cushions. This girl could have been the younger version of Gwen with her soft brown curls, flawless porcelain skin, and wide innocent eyes. There was a slight difference in her eye color though, because instead of a warm brown, her eyes were milky and dull.

"Go ahead," Riah sighed, throwing her hands up in defeat. She'd clearly lost control of the conversation.

Instead of speaking, the miniature Gwen stood and stumbled over to Eren, touching surfaces and sometimes people to keep her bearings in check. Eren had his suspicions before when he saw her eyes, but they were confirmed when he realized the trouble she was having. The little girl was blind.

Feeling pity for her, Eren stuck out his hand to balance her and stop her from tumbling into the table. She gave him an appreciative smile and her cheeks faintly redden.

"Uh, you okay?" Eren asked, worriedly.

"Oh, I'm fine! Thank you for the help though!" the blind girl said, cheerily. She straightened herself up and continued, "I'm Sophie Gray, Gwen's sister. It's nice to meet you!"

"Titan name, Soph," reminded Gwen sweetly.

"Oh right! My titan name is Cana. It's short for Cannibal," Sophie said, excitedly.

"C-cannibal?" Eren repeated.

"Oh, don't worry! I don't eat humans. My titan likes to eat other titans! It's kinda hard to explain," she said, holding her arms behind her back and swinging back and forth. "Can I touch your face?"

"Uuuuh," was Eren's only reply to this odd request.

"Sophie's blind, so the only way she knows what people look like is if she feels their face," Gwen clarified, gently.

"Um, I guess I don't really mind…?"

Sophie squealed in happiness before stumbling forward and nearly crashing into Eren again. When she steadied herself, she hesitantly reached up and started timidly smoothing her delicate fingers over Eren's face. She traced over his nose, cheeks, lips, and around his eyes. Eren kept perfectly still for her, intrigued by her strange way of "seeing" people. The rest of the room watched in bored patience, no doubt already used to Sophie's form of greetings.

"What color are your eyes?" she finally asked, running her hands through his hair.

Before Eren could reply Hannah leaped up and nearly tackled him, her crazed hazel eyes locked onto his with intense curiosity. She halted her advance right next to Sophie and grabbed Eren's face, pulling it uncomfortable close to hers. The startled boy could see her studying his wide eyes.

"They're kinda like a weird blue-green color, but they got like these gold spots in them. They're pretty as fuck though," she said, still scrutinizing him.

"Er, thanks?" Eren replied, uneasily. He could not get a good sense of these people. They were all completely random and unpredictable, with a very clear lack of knowledge on personal space.

"Hannah, get the fuck off him! You're freakin him out," scowled Riah, grabbing Hannah by the scruff of her neck and tossing her back on the couch. The tattoo girl yelped and slammed into the boy she'd been sitting next to before, who promptly snarled and shoved her on the ground.

Ignoring the tensing in Eren's body at the blatant display of abuse to one of the subjects, Sophie finished her inspection and smiled brightly and giggled.

"You're really cute!" she said, blushing slightly as she was helped back to her seat.

Eren simply stared at her in surprise. Did she just call him _cute_? If the brunette wasn't in constant state of shock from all the strange events taking place around him, he would have been highly embarrassed by the little girl's words.

Riah sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Alright, we're moving on! 'Cause I don't have the fucking patience to wait for ya'll to get your shit together. Who's going next!?"

"Me, me, me! Oh, pick me!" Hannah squealed from her place on the floor, jabbing her hand in the air in excitement.

"Hannah, you don't have to raise your hand. We're not five," Lily taunted. Hannah stuck her tongue out at her before she quickly started speaking.

"My name's Hannah Lara and they call my titan Bones! 'Cause it's got this cool bone armor on its face and chest and stuff. Oh! My titan's also male, in case you get confused," Hannah exclaimed so fast Eren almost missed a lot of her words.

"Why is your titan male if you're a girl?" asked Eren politely.

"I was born a girl, but I'm gender fluid. Basically it's a fancy word for saying I see myself as a boy and as a girl, depending on my mood," Hannah said, sounding far more intelligent than normal. "My human body is female so my male side comes out in my titan form."

Jaeger nodded, understanding well enough. When Hannah didn't speak again, Riah prompted for someone else to step up, seeming pleased that things were going faster now.

The boy on the sofa sighed and sat up straighter. Eren cautiously turned his attention to him. From the way this boy had treated Hannah earlier, Eren already didn't like him. The boy was tall and lanky, and looked almost undernourished with how little muscle clung to his thin features and how baggy his clothes were. Jet black hair swept over his pale forehead and lay across his head like inky satin. Set into his sharp face were two black holes for eyes, the iris so dark it almost blended perfectly with his pupil and gave him a demonic look. His thin, bony face was set in indifference, as if being here was a waste of time. His expression bore an uncanny resemblance to a certain blonde, ice woman from training.

"Piers Anderson, Wraith Titan. I'd say it's a pleasure to meet you, but that'd be a lie," he hissed out, his voice low and wispy, sounding very snake-like. Now Eren truly knew he didn't like him.

"Oookay, now that we got mister doom-and-gloom out of the way. Rogers! One of you go!" snapped Riah.

"Okay!" sang out two voices from the other side of the room.

As if they just popped into existence, two small figures jumped out and stood in front of Eren, giving him another heart attack.

One was very clearly a boy with short, golden hair and large blue eyes. He looked so similar to a younger Armin, Eren could have easily mistaken him for his little brother. The boy had on a bright smile and in his hands was a toy train, no doubt the thing he was searching for in the chest.

The figure next to the little boy was more of a mystery to Eren. They were dressed in a pair of tattered slacks and a cotton shirt, very similar to the boy next to them, but this child had longer hair reaching down to their hips in golden waves. They're face looked girlish but there were certain features that seemed distinctly male. If they were older it would have been easier to guess their gender but considering they looked only about ten or eleven and had no curves or muscles, it was impossible to say if they were a girl or boy.

"Hello! I'm James Rogers, but you can call me Jimmy!" said the boy, vigorously shaking Eren's hand. He smiled and widely and Eren returned the smile. "My titan's called Anatomy. Kinda funny name, huh?"

"Nice to meet you, Jimmy," Eren replied, pleasantly. Eren always got along pretty well with children, mainly because he acted like one himself most of the time. After Jimmy let go of Eren's hand, the brunette turned to the other Rogers and held his hand out.

"And what's your name?" Eren asked, noticing how shy the child was acting. They kept their head down and nervously tugged at their sleeve.

"U-um, I'm A-Andy Rodgers," they stuttered out, shakily grabbing his hand and then hastily releasing it. "M-my titan's named Melody."

"Those are really nice names," Eren said, smiling kindly in the hopes of putting the young one at ease. Andy nodded and blushed profusely before they scampered back to their seat on one of the chairs. Their brother quickly joined them since they were both small enough to fit on one chair.

Gwen leaned up and quickly whispered in Eren's ear, "Andy's technically a boy, but she prefers to be considered a girl, which is why her titan's a girl. She's also really self-conscious and shy."

Eren nodded at her. Though it was a surprise to hear that a little boy wanted to be a girl, Eren wasn't a judgmental person. Besides, it really wasn't that much a stretch to think of Andy as a girl.

"I suppose it's my turn, is it?" sighed a boy leaning against the wall. Eren almost didn't see him there, being in the shadows of the room and away from the center of attention. The boy shrugged off the wall and Eren was struck by how tall he was. He had to be as tall as Bertholdt, with lean muscles wrapped around his long figure. His dark brown hair was neat and well-combed and his face was strong and handsome. Behind a set of thin glasses was a pair of intelligent silver eyes that seemed to hide an eternity of secrets in them. This boy had an aura of calm authority to him that made him seem like a natural born leader. The silver-eyed boy walked to Eren and firmly shook his hand.

"I'm Gabriel Knowles, my titan's called Lightning, but they just shorten it to Light," Gabriel said, giving Eren a small, welcoming smile. "Good to have another man here, truthfully. The girls were starting to outnumber us."

"Oh yeah, like _you_ would complain, Gabe," snickered Hannah. She waggled her eyebrows at him suggestively and he only rolled his eyes at her.

"Some of us have thoughts other than the perverse ones in your sick head," Gabriel shot back, smirking. Hannah opened her mouth with a comeback but Riah cut her off.

"Alright, alright, shut up! That everyone?" she said, glaring around the room.

"You forgot Mathias," whispered Dove, her blank eyes roving over one of the steel doors. At the mention of Mathias, everyone in the room shuddered and turned to look at the same door. Eren frowned and stared at the door as well.

"Who's Mathias?"

"Mathias Cane, also known as the Razor Titan," answered Gwen, brow knitted in fear. "He was the first one to arrive here and because of it, he was given the worst tests imaginable, since the project was still in its early stages, they had to test him to his fullest capabilities. These days, all we do is practice controlling our titans and honing our skills, but with Mathias, they had to push him to his very limit."

She shuddered then and her eyes grew sad. "He used to be so nice but after going through all they did to him, he's changed drastically. He isn't even allowed to socialize with us anymore and he has to be kept chained at all times."

"He's _that_ bad?" Eren asked, eyeing the door wearily.

"Mm hm, it's so awful," Gwen finished, her face drawn in pity.

"Ya wanna meet him?" snickered Riah, getting very close to Eren's face. Seriously, what was it with these people and popping his personal space bubble?

"Um, I'm good," Eren replied.

Riah laughed and started dragging the brunette towards the door. "Don't you worry your pretty little head! Mat will be chained up so he can't even get to the doorway!"

Eren dragged his heels but even then he still ended up in front of the ominous steel door. How strong was this girl!? With one last mischievous look, Riah grabbed the handle and slowly opened the door into pitch darkness.

Just as he was starting to think the room was empty, a sudden growl erupted from the blackness. Eren leaned forward, his curiosity getting the better of him, and had to immediately jump back when something leaped from the corner towards him. The creature was yanked back abruptly by a thick metal chain. Instead of jumping again, it strained against the metal cuff around its neck in an attempt to maim one of the teenagers standing at the door. With the little light leaking through the doorway, Eren could see what exactly this creature was.

It was a boy probably around the same age as him. His pale hair was long and matted around his ferocious face. He wore only a pair of ragged shorts while the rest of him was bare and filthy. His body was muscular without being overly bulky, but he still had the look of a man who could easily rip a person apart without a single thought. Even his ice blue eyes screamed mania and animalistic savagery. Whoever this boy had been before, it was clear he didn't exist anymore. He'd been replaced by a mindless beast.

Eren stared at him in absolutely horror. Was this going to be his fate? Would he end up crazy like this? Best case scenario he could see was turning out slightly off like the rest of them. The worst case was crouched in front of him, practically foaming at the mouth and straining against his bindings.

Eren wasn't a coward, but even he knew when it was time to be afraid.


	6. Project Titan Subject List

**So here's the list of titan subjects that I forgot to upload a few days ago. Sorry about that guys ^.^' And since I'm posting this I might as well address my reviews.**

 **To Alex: I'm glad you like the story! And I'm going to try and keep up with the updates as much as possible but there might be late uploads with school coming up.**

 **To Jazz: I completely understand not liking all the new characters, honestly there's so many that it's hard to like, or even remember, them all. Also, I tried to make a few of them very unlikable because that's apart of their personality and it's suppose to show their insane, disturbed side. Personally Gwen is my favorite as well, and she'll probably get more of the spotlight than the others.**

 **I'm gonna try to post the next chapter by next week, but college and work will definitely make things difficult!**

* * *

 **Project Titan Subject List**

 **Gabriel Knowles** \- Lightning (Light): body produces electrical pulses; can control lightening

 **Mathias Cane** \- Razor: back half of titan body covered in razor sharp armor; can curl into a ball and roll for speed (completely insane)

 **James (Jimmy) Rogers** \- Anatomy: titan body's completely see through

 **Piers Anderson** \- Wraith: titan and human body can become mist, mist can suffocate and blind

 **Andy Rogers** \- Melody: female titan, male human, can sing to lull humans and titans to sleep

 **Hannah Lara** \- Bones: male titan, female human; bone armor on outside of body, on face and chest; can pull off ribs to use as weapons

 **Mariah Hart** \- Feline (Kitty): titan and human body has cat-like characteristics (ears and tail); titan runs on all fours; incredibly flexible

 **Guinevere Gray** \- Angel: titan body has fleshy bat-like wings; can kind of fly; has a calm aura that effects those around her and her blood can heal any wounds on herself and other people

 **Sophia Gray** \- Canna (Cannibal): runs on all fours; blind; has a large mouthand sharp teeth used for eating titan flesh; can jump high

 **Dove Drake** \- Gem (Gemini): shares a titan body with twin sister; happy half; can connect her mind to her twin

 **Lillian (Lily) Drake** \- Mini (Gemini): shares a titan body with twin sister; angry half; can connect her mind to her twin.


	7. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Already One of Us**

After the exhausting introductions were finally complete and Mathias's room had been closed, Eren and the rest of the subjects sat around talking before they were forced to go to bed. Eren learned quickly that most of the subjects did not like sharing, especially if it involved their pasts outside of Atlas Corp. Whenever he even mentioned the outside world, the rest of them would tense up and immediately change the subject. While Eren would have pressed further, he decided not to make any more enemies that day. He was already pretty sure at least one of them was not pleased with him.

As Eren was about to enter his room he noticed a wooden plague hung next to his neighbor's door. A look around the common room revealed that every door had a piece of wood next to it, except his. He turned back to the door next to his and read the blocky letters burned into the wood:

 **Guinevere Gray**

 **Subject 4**

 **"** **Angel"**

"It's how they identify us," a meek voice said behind him.

Eren jumped and spun around, coming face to face with little Andy, one of the last few to leave the common room. She watched him with piecing blue eyes and a set face.

"O-oh, so I guess that means I'll get one too, huh?" Eren asked, smiling sheepishly to ease the tension. Andy cocked her head to the side and nodded.

"You'll also get one of these," she said quietly, before lifting up her left sleeve.

At first Eren didn't know what he was staring at until his brain finally pieced two and two together and he let out a stunned gasp. Where smooth, pale skin should have been there was scarred, puckered flesh in the shape of letters that read: PT-SMD.

"Wha-what is that?" Eren stuttered, horrified. As if the day couldn't get any stranger.

"It's our tags and it shows that they own us," Andy said, sadly stroking the destroyed tissue. She suddenly looked up into Eren's face and her eyes were seriously and almost desperate.

"Don't believe everything you're told about this place. Gwen always sugar-coats it for newcomers, but this place is absolute hell," she said, she then leaned up and whispered. "It's all smiles and laughs when the tests are done, because no one wants to talk about what's going on. It's easier to cope when you ignore the problem.

"These tests, they can't be all that bad, c-can they?" Eren asked, fearing the answer.

Andy ducked her head and whispered so low Eren almost couldn't hear her. "I hope you're still you after tomorrow…"

With that final sentence, Andy scurried away back to her room and slammed the door, leaving Eren frozen in the room, the last one left.

Shaking himself out of his stupor, he quickly turned and shut his door. He struggled to his bed, pulled out his duffle bag, and changed into sleeping clothes before slumping in his cot. It wasn't the best bed he'd ever had, but it was definitely better than those awful lumpy cots he had to share back in training camp. He might actually be able to sleep properly for once.

Staring up at his ceiling, the brunette tried his best to let his mind go and fall asleep but he was still disturbed by the day's events. Just this morning he had been eating breakfast with his friends and anticipating the drills Shadis would put them through that day. Now, he was being held by a suspiciously mysterious corporation in the middle of nowhere, waiting to be tested on like some human guinea pig. He wanted to look on the brighter side of things, but with so little information on where his life was going, as well as the ominous words from Andy, it was hard to think positively.

Another thought that worried him was how he would end up after this "treatment" he was going to receive tomorrow. He'd seen how messed up the others had become because of this project, both physically and mentally, and it terrified him to think about what awful thing would happen after his treatment the next day. Would he become completely insane like Mathias? Or was it a gradual thing? Gwen did say Mat was put through a lot of tortuous tests when he first came here, at least that was one thing he didn't have to worry about.

Why didn't he try to escape before? When he was contently riding along in that carriage? Sure there had been a couple of guards but he could have easily run. Neither of them looked particularly fast and he was a good sprinter, but why didn't he? Curiosity? Fear? He had been feeling both of those on the ride over. Maybe it was shock that kept him in his seat and forced him to continue to his doom.

Eren sighed and rolled over. All his thoughts were really stressing him out. It took a lot of will power for him to shut his brain off and finally fall into a fitful sleep.

* * *

The next morning, Eren tried to stifle his yawn as he sluggishly followed a nameless guard up the stairs from the subject living quarters. In the past hour, the brunette had been roughly shaken awake and dragged out of bed, barely having time to change his clothes and grab his key. The man had shoved a measly breakfast of bread and some kind of brown, grainy bar that tasted gritty and salty. When Eren had asked what it was, the man explained it for protein and energy and that was it. Eren finished his meal and continued to follow the quiet man.

"Enjoy your moments of humanity, kid, 'cause you're about to lose it," chuckled the guard, opening the final door that led out in to the main entrance. The guard was steering him towards the door on the opposite side of the room, but Eren's eyes focused on the steel door to his right. Behind that door laid freedom, if he could get away…

"Don't even think about it," a voice snapped, startling Eren. The guard was glaring at him with venom and nodded toward the exit. "There's two of my good buddies outside that door, so unless you want a gun to your head, I suggest you keep walking."

Eren grumbled under his breath and fell into step behind the man again as he unlocked and opened the door. Behind it was a long hallway lined with several doors. On the right side of three of the doors were large viewing windows. As they passed these windows, Eren looked inside the first window they passed and shuddered at the contents of the room. Inside was a solitary chair equipped with arm and leg straps and a lone metal table with a set of sterilized tools sitting innocently on top. Eren quickly looked away and didn't bother looking into the other rooms.

"And I suggest you fix that attitude. Drake hates it when her subordinates don't cooperate."

"Oh, I wonder why I don't want to cooperate. Maybe it has something to do with getting poked and prodded like a piece of meat? Or maybe it's because I just had my life completely ripped away from me to become a puppet for a two-faced psychopath?" Eren snarled lowly, fists clenched on either side.

The guard threw his head back and laughed, further startling Eren as he simply watched in stunned silence.

"You've got a serious spark in ya, kid, I'll give you that! Most of the subjects I bring up here are all quiet and timid, but not you, eh? I think you're the first one to actually speak his mind about all this and I gotta admit, it's an interesting change. Wonder how Drake's gonna take it," he chuckled. They approached the door at the end of the hall and when it swung open there stood the devil herself in a much-too-expensive-looking dress and a slimy smile on her deviously beautiful face. Behind her stood two more stoic guards watching Eren's every move.

"Thank you, Joel, you're dismissed," Violet said, nodded to the guard.

"Don't change too much, kid," Joel muttered, nudging Eren's arm before and before marching back down the hall.

Eren eyed Violet wearily, but she simply smiled and ushered him inside. The room he found himself in wasn't as traumatic as Eren expected. It was a simple laboratory with strange little instruments and vials scattered around several sturdy metal tables. A few men and women in lab-coats were working in their stations, not paying any mind to the newcomer. Violet ushered Eren towards one of the stations and forced him into a chair next to the table.

"Now, Eren, no need to look so on edge. All we're doing right now is taking a small blood sample to analyze," Violet consoled, patting his shoulder as a show of comfort. Eren glared at her, but kept his mouth shut, taking that guards word to heart.

One of the timid scientists approached him and asked for his arm, empty syringe in hand. After giving the woman a look that sent shivers of fear through her, Eren held out his arm and allowed her to extract a decent amount of blood from him before scurrying back to her station and preparing her analysis under the microscope. Eren grew immediately bored.

"What are we doing after this, Violet?" he asked, looking back at her. Next to her, the guards stiffen and stared at Eren as if he'd grown two heads. Oh, that's right, speaking her name was some kind of taboo around here. Too bad Eren didn't care.

Violet didn't seem at all fazed by Eren's words; actually she almost seemed pleased by them. She smiled and thoughtfully replied, "After this, we'll have to inject the formula into you and then take you back to your room. You'll be unconscious the rest of the day and night and hopefully by tomorrow you'll be able to transform for the first time."

"Hm, alright, I least I get to sleep the rest of the day," said Eren, leaning back in his chair and getting comfortable.

Violet laughs at that and nods. "Yes, I suppose, you'll just have a lazy day, but don't think it'll be like that every day, how would we get anything done!" she teased. The two of them were talking like they were old friends, much to the confusion and discomfort of the others in the room, while at the same time they were both sizing each other up. Neither one trusted the other, and it was doubtful they ever would, but for now, they would be civilized.

"I'm quite excited for tomorrow, I will admit, I'm very curious as to how your ti—." Violet started before she was cut off by a frantic voice behind her.

"M-M-Ms. Drake! Ms. Drake, y-you should take a look this!" stammered the doctor that had taken Eren's blood. The boy frowned at her, what was wrong with his blood?

Violet glared at her for a moment, before she sighed and walked to the table, bending down to take a look into the scope.

The brunette watched in mild curiosity as Violet stared into the microscope, irritation slowly changed to astonishment and then to utter disbelief. She quickly snapped up so fast Eren thought she might have almost broken her back. The woman stared at him in amazement and suspicion.

"What? Is there something wrong with the sample?" Eren asked, just as confuse as they seemed to be.

"Hm," Violet hummed, turning back to the sample again. "How very strange…"

Now Eren was starting to get worried. He didn't have some horrible blood disease or anything, right? He really couldn't deal with another tragedy in his already drama filled life.

"Take another sample immediately," Violet ordered, all traces of friendliness gone. The woman complied and took more blood from Eren. After examining it as long as the first one, she lifted her head and said in a mystified voice, "It's the same…"

Violet shoved her aside and peered into the glass. "How is this possible?"

"How is _what_ possible," Eren asked tiredly, now he was getting annoyed.

The director looked back up at him, her unsettling eyes staring at him as if she could see right through him.

"It seems you have already been given the serum treatment," Violet said, still suspicious of the oblivious boy.

Eren stared at her, eyebrows raised in shock. He already had the formula running through his veins? Did that mean he was a—?

"I-I'm already a titan?!" Eren yelped, horrified and downright astonishment. How? How did this happen?!

"It would appear so…" Violet said, thoughtfully tapping her chin and peering at Eren. "You had no knowledge of this?"

"Wha—? N-No! Of course I didn't!" shouted the boy, doing the only thing he knew how to do when he was confused: get angry.

"Then how on earth did the serum end up in your blood?"

"How am I supposed to know?!"

"U-um, ma'am?" piped up the scientist. When Violet nodded to her she added, "Whatever formula is in his blood, it isn't like ours. There are similarities, but they're most definitely not the same. I can't even…I don't even know how it was made!"

"What do you mean?" asked Violet snappily.

"I mean, this strand of the serum is so advanced I don't even know where to begin analyzing it! I…whoever made this must have been a genius," she ended, sounding almost in reverence. "This formula is almost perfect…"

Violet frowned and hummed again, staring at Eren, who was doing his best to calm down from this earth-shattering revelation.

"I'm sure this has something to do with Grisha," she finally said.

Eren jerked at his father's name and stared at her blankly. Why the hell did his father have to do with this?

"I'm sure you didn't know this, Eren, but your father was once a part of this project," explained Violet stiffly. "He left the project a little before Wall Maria fell but I always suspected he would still work on it on his own, but I never would have believed that he'd actually successfully create the titan shifting serum."

Eren, of course, knew all of this from the time he spied on his father and Violet the night Grisha left. After that though, he knew very little and even he had to admit he was surprised by his father apparent accomplishment. When would his father have time to do this?

"Well, I suppose there isn't much we can do except take a few more samples and hopefully replicate the strand. If we can do that, we might be able to fix the…abnormalities in the other subjects," Violet muttered to herself while the doctor quickly wrote down what she said. She then turned her attention to the dazed boy in the chair.

"As for you, I see no reason why we can't test out your abilities today, since we don't need to wait for the treatment to take effect," Violet said, motioning for Eren to stand and follow her out. He numbly stood and did as he was told, too wrapped up in his own thoughts to protest. He followed her out of the lab and back down the creepy hall to the entrance room.

How was this even possible? How the hell was he a titan shifter already? Was it his father's doing? If so, he supposed he had another thing to be angry at him about, along with the abandonment. Is this what those horrifying dreams were about? What if those weren't dreams, but actually memories? God, how did his life end up like this?

Eren had no idea where they were going, but he followed along obediently with Violet in front and the two guards in the back. He didn't even glance at the exit door when they passed it on their way to the stairway down. Were they going back to the common room?

The answer to that was definitely no. At the end of the staircase there was the door leading into the shifter living quarters but instead of going to it, Violet stopped at the bottom of the stairs and spun around to face the void space between the staircase and the wall. It looked only like a narrow, dark corner but Eren was surprise to see Violet walk toward it, lighting a lantern as she did, and illuminating the hidden doorway tucked away behind the stairs. If the space hadn't been revealed, Eren would have never known it was there.

"This building has quite a few little tricks and secrets," Violet said, amused by the stunned look on Eren's face. "You never know what you might find in an old bunker like this…"

She flung open the door and a gust of unexpected, chilly air burst through and sent goose bumps over Eren's arms. From where he stood, the boy could only see darkness, until Violet led him inside and onto a stone platform, overlooking one of the largest and most incredible underground rooms Eren had ever laid eyes on.

"Welcome to the Arena," Violet said, smiling.

Eren gawked at the sheer size of the room. It looked like a giant underground cavern with large rock spikes jutting from the ceiling and around the edges of the room. The center had been smoothed over to make room for exercise equipment and oddly enough, a huge circle with a smaller circle inside. If he didn't know better, Eren would have thought they were sparring circles, but how could they be so _big_?

"This is where you will train both your human and titan body with the other subjects," continued Violet, she started walking down a set a stairs that led to floor of the room. Eren followed, careful of the jagged steps but still gaping around at the room. "Today, however, you'll transform and show us what you can do."

They all stopped in the center of the room, the guards quickly retreating to the wall to watch. Violet turned and gave a bone-chilling smile, before reaching into her pocket and pulled out a small pocket knife. She handed to Eren, who stared at it with a frown. What was he supposed to do with a little knife?

"Now, Eren, let's see what you've got."


	8. Chapter 6

**Hey guys, I'm so so so sorry this is late. School has started and college is an absolute nightmare x.x It also doesn't help that I've been having some serious medical issues (migraines, seizures, etc.) so I haven't had the time to focus on my writing, but I will still upload! It may just be a bit later than usual ^^'**

 **Review Responses:**

 **Jazz: I'll start off by saying, no, Atlas Corp. has no idea their king is a shifter (spoiler) or that the Reiss family is even involved (another spoiler). Also, yes the serum Grisha used on Eren was the same one as in the manga/anime, as you'll read in this chapter. And yes, Eren's titan is definitely the hottest XD**

 **Alex: I'm glad you're enjoying the story! but sadly I have to keep Eren the way he is, hot titan and all XD**

 **(STORY PLOT HELPER BECAUSE LAZINESS) I'd like to clarify that Atlas Corp. isn't run by the government anymore, they were at one point, but when their experiments** **started failing, they stopped being funded and had to rely on private donations and "other means". It wasn't until Grisha came along and started helping with their serums that they actually got their first shifter, Mathias. Let's just say there was a lot of dead subjects.**

 **But anyway on with the chapter!**

 **Chapter 6: Rogue**

Eren followed down the stone steps that curved along the wall of the cavernous room, eyes roving all over, trying to take everything in. Violet smirked at his obvious astonishment.

"For today, I simply want to see your titan form. No experiments or tests or training. Afterward, you can go back to your room. Sounds reasonable enough?" Violet explained, leading Eren into the center of the room and into the circles. Behind them, Eren noticed the guards leave.

"And how exactly do I, you know, transform?" asked Eren, uncertainly. This was the moment Eren both feared and anticipated since he first arrived here. How the hell does a human become a titan? Was there some kind of special word or phrase? Or does he have to just believe strong enough and hope it works?

"I'm afraid you'll have to figure that out for yourself," the woman said. She started walking to the edge of the room before stopping and pulling something out of her pocket. "Oh, and you'll be needing this."

Violet tossed the small object at Eren's feet and he picked it up curiously. It was a simple kitchen knife.

"What's this for?" he asked, handling the sharp object gingerly.

"That's all you'll have, so I suggest you prepare yourself," Violet said, looking toward the staircase. Eren followed her gaze and was shocked to see the guards returning with a very familiar, and unpleasant, person.

When they stopped at the edge of the sparring circles, Mathias clawed at the ground and foamed at the mouth, attempting to reach out and maim one of the guards, but they stood apart on either side of the deranged boy and kept the chains taunt, preventing any damage.

"W-why is he here?" the boy stuttered, clutching the knife a bit tighter.

"You're going to fight him, Eren. You see, for the first transformation you'll need a strong goal in order to fully shift, and I think staying alive is a good goal to strive for, yes?" Violet smirked at the boy, dropping all pretenses of friendliness. "Release him."

Quickly and efficiently, the chains were removed and the guards bolted for the top of the stairs, where Violet had moved to watch and wait. Mathias stared after them for a fraction of a second, debating on going after them, but that desire passed when he turned back and saw Eren standing there, weapon drawn, and anxiety written all over him. He growled, but didn't make any moves to approach him, and just when Eren thought he wasn't going to attack, Mathias did something that Eren never would have expected.

He lifted his hand, brought it to his mouth, and swiftly bit down on the meaty flesh of his thumb.

Heat and blinding light exploded out in a cloud of dirt and dust, and the sound of thunder cracked through the massive stony room. The force was enough to knock Eren back and slam against a set of weights. His head spun from the impact but the sight before him was enough for him to forget about his pain.

Standing before Eren, watching him with beady, black eyes, was the strangest titan the boy had ever seen. Granted, he had only seen a few in his lifetime, but even he knew that the creature in front of him wasn't natural in the slightest. The titan had to be about twelve meters tall and it looked almost like a normal man, with correct proportions and taunt muscles, even its face was practically identical to Mathias's sharp features. It would have been an exact replica, albeit a much taller one, but instead of crazed blue eyes there were two black holes on his face, and in place of Mat's strange white hair were long, shaggy reddish-brown locks. The titan watched him before a sudden shrill sound caught his attention and he turned to face the staircase, where Violet held a silver whistle between her lips. This gave Eren full view of the titan's back and forcing him to let out a gasp of shocked disbelief.

The skin all along the back half of his body up to the back of his head was completely covered in a thick layer of silvery, pencil-thin needles that expanded and contracted with every movement. It was like staring at the back of a metal porcupine. And here, Eren thought it couldn't get any more terrifying.

The titan stared at Violet, who smirked before ordering, "Attack him, Razor!"

Before Eren had time to process her words, Mat's titan, Razor, spun around and curled into a tight ball of hazardously sharp spikes. The steel-like spikes dug into the stone ground as the giant ball began to spin and catch on the floor, sending the titan flying forward toward Eren.

With a yelp of terror, Eren lunged away from his spot on the floor, bolting for a safe place as far from the impact as possible. From behind him, the boy heard the resounding crash and crunch of Razor plowing into some of the training equipment and the wall behind it. Bits of rock and dirt scraped along Eren's skin as he skidded to a halt a few meters away, barely missing the carnage. Adrenaline pumped through his body and urged him to keep moving, to keep fighting even with his only weapon being a measly knife that could barely do anything against the monstrosity trying to tear him apart.

Razor unfurled and shook his head, growls rolling out its throat and eyes scanning the room until they landed on Eren again. The boy had just enough time to run out of the line of fire before the titan crashed into the wall again.

"You can't run forever, Eren! You'll have to fight sooner or later!" sang out Violet, smiling wide in sadistic excitement.

"How the hell do I fight that thing?!" Eren bellowed furiously. He rolled out of the way for the third time and managed to get on the other side of the room, confusing the spiked ball.

"Use that damn head of yours, boy!"

Eren growled under his breath. This woman was absolutely fucking crazy if she thought he was going to live through this much longer! He could already feel his muscles aching from the sudden exertion and his breath was coming out in hard pants. Even if he wanted to he couldn't think straight!

After the fourth dodge, Eren was starting to get sloppy and slamming into equipment to keep on his feet. His entire body shook with an overdose of adrenaline and Razor seemed to be getting faster. If he didn't think of something quick, he was dead! Think, dammit! If there was any time to miss Armin's big brain it was now!

"You better hurry up and transform, Eren, or you'll get squished like a bug!" laughed Violet hysterically. With her carefully composed mask removed it was painfully obvious how cruel and insane she was now. She was enjoying this far more than any sane person ever should.

When Razor slammed into an empty section of wall again, Eren quickly hid behind a thick stalagmite. The boy sucked in as much air as he could, doubling over in exhaustion. While his body recovered, Eren quickly ran through ideas, each one more desperate than the last. He looked down at the knife still clutched in his hand, utterly confused at how this tiny blade could help him, but suddenly a flash of firelight glanced off another piece of shining metal. When the brunette looked down, he saw his father's key dangling from the strip of leather around his neck.

Flashes of pictures slipped across his vision and shook his body uncontrollably. Images of an unfamiliar forest surrounded him and there stood his father, tears running down his cheeks and fluid-filled syringe in hand.

" _This shot will impair your memory…" his father said. "That's why I can't explain now…"_

 _His vision became hazy and his voice faded in and out._

 _"_ _Listen to me. Take back Wall Maria and reach the basement."_

 _The doctor moved toward his son, his hand shaking. Eren took a step back, wide, innocent eyes scared and confused._

 _"_ _This power will help you then!"_

 _Another step forward, an equal step back._

 _"_ _Their memories will tell you how to use it."_

 _His father lowered the syringe._

 _"_ _Eren!"_

Eren's body jolted from his hiding space, barely conscious of his own movement. He stood before the titan once more, this time completely calm and his face set with determination.

In the blink of an eye, the knife slide across his palm and was promptly tossed away. Blood dribbled down his wrist and just as before, the room was filled with encompassing light and burning heat.

Standing there, in all his furious glory, was Eren's fifteen meter titan. Its entire body was chiseled with defined muscles that looked almost bulky next to Razor's lean frame. Long, shaggy brown hair hung around its grotesque face and toxic green eyes shown through the tresses. Its face was probably the most terrifying feature with its exposed teeth, sharp nose, and strange elfish ears. Overall, Eren's titan exuded strength and infallible rage.

Without giving Razor a chance to recover from his initial shock, Eren's titan bolted for him, letting out a roar that had Violet and her guards covering their ears. In the next moment, Eren lifted his hands in a fighting stance and sent a haymaker towards Razor's head, using enough power to whip the titan's head to the side and completely disorient the needle titan.

While he was struggling to clear his head, Eren grabbed Razor (being surprisingly mindful of the quills), lifted him over his head and slammed him hard onto the ground.

Razor tried to curl into a ball again, this time out of protection, but the furious titan grabbed his arms and ripped them off, pressing his foot into Razor's back for added force. Blood gushed out of Eren's foot from slamming down on the needles, but he was so overcome by fury that anything other than his goal was ignored. Razor writhed on the ground, snarling and screeching with blood and steam flowing out of his wounds, before his leg swung out in a desperate attempt to knock the opposing titan off balance, but Eren was quicker. He jumped out of the way and grabbed the legs, lifting the fidgeting titan up and tossing him into the wall where several stalactites fell and impaled Razor.

"Isn't he glorious?" breathed Violet, lilac eyes wide in awe. "He's absolutely magnificent! And he doesn't have any of those irritating deformities ruining him."

"Ma'am, shouldn't we stop him? As dangerous as Razor is, he's still valuable," insisted one of the guards, tapping the metal at his hip.

Violet sighed and waved them off; disappointed she couldn't watch her perfect titan fight anymore, but grudgingly agreeing that Razor was important.

When the needle titan had stopped moving, Eren stalked forward, skeptical of Razor's stillness and ready to finish the job, when the strange sound of whirring and shouts pulled his attention away from his enemy and towards the two tiny creatures flying in his direction. He was about to swat at them like irritating flies, but they dodged agilely away from his hand and proceeded to slash at the nape of neck. The cuts were shallow enough to make the titan freeze in its tracks, but not enough to kill the boy inside.

Eren collapsed to the floor and the two guards were quick to hack at his neck until they could easily pull out the unconscious brunette. One of them slung Eren over his shoulder while the other went to retrieve Mathias from his mutilated titan. When they were both back at the staircase with their respective shifters, Violet nodded toward the door.

"Take Razor back to his room, make sure to lock him up tight," she instructed. "I doubt he'll be too pleased when he wakes up."

The guard holding the white-haired boy nodded and left quickly through the door. Violet turned her attention back to the Eren. She moved around the man and grabbed a fistful of brown locks, lifting Eren's head off the guard's shoulder and exposing his marked face.

"I knew I saw potential in him," she said out loud, purple eyes watching the boy fondly. "But I never expected something like this. He's practically a prodigy."

The guard snorted. "A titan prodigy?"

"Mm. Have you ever seen any of the others learn to shift so quickly? It took them at least a good twenty to thirty minutes to fully transform and that's after taking quite the beating from Razor. He managed to do it in less than five minutes! All while never taking a single scratch from Razor! He's absolutely outstanding."

The boy shifted and his eyes cracked open slightly, barely conscious. Violet smirked at him.

"You've done well…Rogue."

* * *

When Eren opened his eyes again, he was staring at a dark ceiling, tucked into his bed, and beyond sore. His head pounded and his body ached more than he could have ever believed. He'd never felt this horrible, not even during his military training. It felt like he'd been trampled by a dozen horses and then slammed into a brick wall.

The boy groaned and carefully rolled over, facing the doorway. A few more hours of sleep would hopefully null the awful pain, but sadly the universe had other plans.

"Wakey wakey, pretty boy!" bellowed out a familiar voice as his room door exploded open and banged against the concrete wall. Eren winced at the noise and glared at his intruder.

"Do you mind?!" he snapped.

Riah laughed out and barged her way into the room.

"Riah, you shouldn't annoy him after his first shifting. You remember how awful our first shifts were?" scolded Gwen, entering his room as well and giving him a sympathetic look.

"Ah, he's fine. Besides, he's been sleeping for almost two days. He needs to get his ass up!" remarked Riah, flopping down at the foot of Eren's bed.

"Wait, two days?!" Eren exclaimed, jolting up in bed and immediately regretting it when his head spun. "How have I slept for two days?!"

"Actually, it's a lot shorter than most of our recovery times. Hell, it took Hannah almost a week before she was even conscious," Riah said, flailing her hands excitedly.

"So, how did it go by the way?" Gwen asked, interrupting Riah's coming tirade.

"I…don't really remember…" Eren admitted, face scrunching in confused frustration. "I remember Mathias transforming and running for my life, but then…something happened and I…defeated him, I guess…?"

That stopped the two girls in their tracks. They both stared, wide eyed, at the boy. Riah even had her mouth hanging open as if she'd just witness some great miracle.

"W-what?" Eren asked, uncomfortable under their stares.

"You defeated Mat's titan?!" yelped Riah, pouncing on him and causing further pain to his overexerted body.

"I-I don't really know! I just remember being terrified and then the next thing I know, he's lying on the ground, and can you get off me!" he snapped, very nearly shoving her off, but thankfully she leapt up and off his sore legs.

"Damn son! No one's ever beaten Razor before!" the cat-girl said, looking very impressed. Next to her Gwen nodded, equally awed. "How'd you do it?"

Eren was about to remind her that he couldn't remember how but he was cut off by a bored, drawling voice from the doorway. "He isn't going to remember how, numbskull." Lily sauntered into the room, lavender eyes roving over Eren's tired body with great suspicion. "It'll take weeks before he remembers anything about his shifts and even longer to gain control of his titan."

"Yeah, but Lily, he _freaking_ _beat Razor!_ No one's ever done that, even the guards have a hard time getting Mat out when goes berserk!" Riah boasted, lamp-like eyes excited.

The blonde rolled her eyes, unimpressed. "So what? That just means he's even more of a monster than that basket case. From what I can see, that's far from a good thing."

"No, it's a lovely thing," chimed in another voice, this one light and airy. Dove joined the other girls, greatly annoying Eren. Why did they all feel the need to crowd his room?!

"Dove, do you even know what we're talking about?" Lily asked, eyebrow raised.

"Butterflies?" Dove asked, head cocked to the side and violet eyes glazed over. Lily sighed and grabbed her hand, pulling her out of the room.

"Um, what's up with her?" Eren asked, staring after the twins.

"Which one, the bitch or her dopey sister?" Riah snorted, leaning against the wall and crossing her arms.

"Riah! Don't be so mean," Gwen reprimanded, only causing the girl to roll her eyes. Gwen turned to Eren, her face softening in tragic pity. "Dove hasn't ever been a very strong-minded person, that was always Lily's role, so when they started the experiments, Dove started…losing herself."

"Think of her like the opposite of Mathias. Dove's completely bonkers like him, but instead of being aggressive and savage, she's docile and air-headed. She barely recognizes any of us anymore, and when she does, she never gets our names straight. Hell, I doubt she even recognizes her own sister half the time. She never knows what's going on or how to feel angry or sadness or fear. She's basically like a blank doll, needing everyone to take care of her," explained Riah, uncharacteristically somber.

"That's…that's just awful," Eren muttered, feeling slight shame for having been irritated with the girl earlier.

"Yeah, well, we're all a little like that," Riah continued, flashing a wicked, toothy grin. "See, my insanity only comes out when I'm excited. I usually go overboard and end up hurting myself or others. Otherwise, I could almost pass as normal!"

Gwen sat on the edge of Eren's bed, being careful not to jostle him and gave him a sad smile. "We're all a bit funny here, Eren, but that doesn't make us bad people. We're just a bit…different."

"Am I going to go…you know, funny?" the boy asked hesitantly.

"Probably, especially if you're becoming Miss Drake's favorite," snickered the cat-girl. "You'll be getting _plenty_ of attention from her, no doubt. Bet you'll turn out as crazy as Mat."

"Like hell I will!" Eren growled, startling the two girls. "If you think I'm going to sit here and take whatever crap she tries to force on me, you're sadly mistaken. I'm getting the hell outta here the first chance I get."

Riah raised her brows in surprise, turning to Gwen. The sweet girl simply frowned.

"Eren, I don't think that's the best idea," Gwen whispered, remorsefully. "We all want to get out of here, but every time we try to escape, the guards always manage to stop us and then…"

"And then we get punished," Riah finished for her, eyes hard and serious.

"So what? Is the idea of punishment really so bad that you won't fight back?" Eren said, feeling that rebellious fire building up. These girls were no different from the thousands of others who are content inside their cages.

Riah was suddenly in his face, yellow burning into blue-green. Her teeth were clenched in utter fury and her ears were defensively pulled back.

"You don't know shit," she snarled venomously. "You don't know what punishment is like. You think its running some laps? Going without dinner? Maybe getting locked in our rooms for timeout? Hell no!"

Eren sat back in his bed, very alarmed and instinctually defensive. Riah followed him, refusing to give him space.

"Punishment is absolute torture. It pushes us to the very edge of sanity and then right before we break, they pull us out and say, 'Be grateful we actually care about you.' Then they send us back to our room to cry and pray we never have to go through that again."

"So until you go through that torment you have no right to go spouting off that self-righteous bullshit to us! You think we don't fight? You think we don't try hard enough to be free from this hell? You're dead wrong! We've fought back our entire time here, and you know what it's gotten us? Nothing but pain, frustration, and insanity! Until you've lost everything like we have, then you can decide whether we should be fighting harder or not."

With that said and done, the cat-girl left in a huff of rage, leaving a very overwhelmed and shocked Eren. Gwen sighed and walked to the door as well.

"She isn't wrong, you know. We have been trying to leave this place, but a person can only endure so much before they lose their will to fight," she said, wisely. Just as she closed the door she added, "Get some rest, okay? You'll feel better if you do."

The door clicked close after those parting words. Leaving Eren feeling worse than when he originally woke up.


	9. Chapter 7

**I'm shocked I managed to put this out somewhat on time with all the extra work I've been getting but enough about me!**

 **Jazz: Yes, Mathias is basically Violet's dog, as awful as it is, and there will be more action to come! Just gotta get through the boring bits first . Also, there might be a little something to that last thing you wrote, maybe not to that extreme but something similar *wink* *wink***

 **Anyway, hope y'all enjoy this next chapter! And reviews are much appreciated!**

 **Chapter 7: Tests and Tales**

To say Eren was a bit worried about starting his experiments was a huge understatement. When the guards came down the next morning to retrieve their charges, Eren was already awake and sitting quietly in his room, pondering over all the horrific things that might be done to him as well as concocting his means of escape. He had taken Gwen and Riah's words into account, but they're negativity wasn't enough to convince him to stay in his cage.

When the door flew open, Eren was physically and mentally prepared for whatever they were going to throw at him. He was surprised, however, to see Joel's grinning face in the doorway.

"Up and at em', kid, you got a long day of poking and prodding ahead a' ya!" he bellowed, jovially. Despite the fact that Joel was a guard, Eren found himself warming up to his boisterous personality.

Eren stood and followed behind the man, muttering a morning greeting as he left his room. Outside in the common room, several others were being sleepily dragged out of their rooms and instructed on the training they were going to be doing that day. From what Eren could tell from his eavesdropping, he was the only one going for tests and experiments, while the others were being focused on fighting and stamina building.

As the boy followed Joel up the stairs, he asked, "You know what I'm doing today?"

"Ah, guards don't ever know what goes on in those rooms. Our job is to just watch the door and help restrain the subject if needed," Joel replied calmly. "But from what I've heard, it's not gonna be an easy day, kid."

"When have I ever had an easy day?" Eren muttered, mostly to himself but earning a hearty chuckle from the guard.

"That's the spirit."

After the long trek from the living quarters to the experiment hallway, Eren was led to one of the side doors that opened to a simple white room with a cushioned table and metal tool stand. He was told to sit and wait for one of the doctors. The boy obliged and sat on the uncomfortable table. When the doctor finally came in, all he did was give Eren a few cursory exams, like checking his temperature, his heart rate, and blood pressure. The brunette tried to ask him questions, but the man remained silent during his examinations. When he was finished, the doctor instructed him to lay back on the table.

Once Eren was comfortably situated, the doctor leaned down under the table and brought out odd rusted metal and leather objects. Acting too fast for Eren to protest, the man quickly restrained the boy's wrists with the leather shackles and then moved to his legs.

"H-hey! What are you doing?!" Eren exclaimed struggling against the bonds. His kicking legs made the doctor's job more difficult but eventually he was completely strapped to the table, barely able to move. "Is this really necessary?"

"Oh, it's plenty necessary," came a sickly sweet. Turning his head, Eren was greeted by his warden in a silky purple dress and lethal looking high-heels. She smiled at him and approached the table. "We can't have you flailing around too much, now can we?"

"What are you going to do to me?" Eren snarled, eyes blazing.

"Experiments, of course," she replied, casually. "Normally, we wouldn't need to perform such experiments, since we gained plenty of knowledge on our formula's effect from Razor."

Eren shuddered, remembering Gwen's explanation for Mathias's erratic and violent behavior.

"But the serum running in your veins is completely different and new to us, so of course, we have to perform similar tests to gain a better understanding of this new strand of serum."

"So you're going to cut me open and see how I tick?" Eren said through clenched teeth. He was trying very hard to stay under control.

"Something like that, yes," Violet said, smiling widely. "For the first few tests, you'll be given anesthesia to help with the pain, but you'll still be somewhat conscious during it."

Eren snorted in contempt. Anesthesia? And here he thought Violet was a selfish, soulless woman, who liked hearing the sounds of screaming in agony.

"That's awfully nice of you," Eren remarked, in a snarky tone.

"Well, don't get too excited about it. Once these first few exams are over, we'll have to perform them again with the anesthesia to determine whether there's any differences," the devil woman said, saying such brutal words in a caring voice.

Ah, there it was. He knew there was no way she would be this nice.

Eren kept his retort to himself and opted instead to watch the doctor stick a thin needle into his arm. There was a small prick and then a cold feeling spread up his arm and through his body, pulling a shiver from the boy. Whatever they stuck in him must have been strong because after only a few minutes, Eren was slipping into a dazed state. His mind was slowed and his vision was blurred and hazy. If his limbs weren't strapped down, he probably would have a hard time lifting them.

He tried to follow what the doctor and Violet were saying but their words were slurred and didn't make sense in his mind, so he quickly gave up on that. He closed his eyes, thinking he could sleep through whatever horrific thing they were about to do to him, but the sudden and unpleasant pressure on his arm pulled forced his eyes open. If he wasn't so drugged up, he probably would have screamed at the sight of his left arm being sawed off. Though he couldn't feel the full pain, it was still terribly unnerving and he struggling against his binding.

His thrashing went unnoticed by the other two in the room, who continued to talk and slowly rip his body apart. Blood and flesh dripped onto the floor and stained the doctor's apron, while Violet stayed well out of the way and out of Eren's line of sight. He let out meek whimpers and tried to look away from the gore, but he couldn't focus on anything else. It wasn't until the doctor slid the needle into the stump where his arm used to be that Eren finally calmed. Green eyes dulled and the boy stared blankly at the ceiling, so far gone he no longer cared what they did to him. Hell, they could probably kill him and he wouldn't even notice.

Their voices were just muffled murmurs in his ears and they lulled him deeper into his dream-like state. The blood on the walls and his clothes went ignored, as did the off-putting burning sensation in the places where his arm and both legs should be. Were they going to cut them all off? How the hell was he supposed to function without them?

The questions came and went in his mind, coming and going before Eren had time to process them. One thing he did remember was how much he hated feeling like this.

Just when Eren was about to slip into unconsciousness, something touched the top of his head, slowly combing through his hair in a comforting manner.

 _Mom…?_ His drugged mind thought, relaxing into the touch. Through the rest of the experiment, those thin fingers raked through his hair and he heard soft whispers sounding like reassurance in his ear.

Eren knew his mother his dead, he could never be in denial of that horrible event, but in that vulnerable, dazed state it was easy for him to sink into his greatest hope that she was there with him. Those little acts of comfort were the only things keeping him from tumbling into darkness and he was strangely thankful for that. He simply closed his eyes and waited for it to end, while indulging in the impossible.

 _"_ _Everything's going to be alright, Eren…you're doing great, it's almost over…"_

A sweet, familiar voice drifted across his mind. It sounded just like her; it couldn't be anyone else surely…

It felt like minutes later the hand on his hair left and he whimpered, trying to find that comfort again, but then he felt himself being lifted up, and placed on a hard, uncomfortable surface. The shifter had no idea what was happening to him, even when he opened his dull eyes, everything was just a bunch of vague shapes. A second later, a soft breeze flitted over his numb skin as he was moved from the light and into dimness. As he was taken god knows where, sleep finally claimed him.

When Eren awoke that night, he discovered his body was perfectly fine. No missing limbs, no ripped off chunks of flesh, there weren't even any scars, and it completely baffled him. When he asked the others about it before dinner Riah rudely explained,

"Of course there's no damage. You're a titan now. Titans have regeneration abilities. Do the math, nimrod."

That earned her a glare from Eren and a reprimand from Gwen, both of which, she ignored and continued to wolf down her food. Later that night when many of the others had left for bed (for such an uptight place you'd think they'd have some kind of set curfew), Gwen asked about Eren's first experiment, while Andy sat in the farthest chair, reading.

"It was…horrible," Eren finally admitted to sympathetic Gwen. She nodded and patted his shoulder. "I was so drugged up I didn't know what was real and what wasn't. I swear there was one point I thought my mom was there…"

"Your mom?" she asked gently. None of the other shifters knew much when it came to Eren, just where he used to live and his aspiration to join the Survey Corps. They tended not to talk about their pasts unless someone else was brave enough to speak first. It was less painful that way.

"Yeah. She died back when Shiganshina fell," he replied, quietly, wincing at the memory. "She was eaten by a titan right in front of me."

He had no idea why he was telling her this. He never wanted to remember that day, let alone tell someone else about it, but despite having only known her for a few days, Eren felt comfortable with Gwen. It was like she had some kind of soothing aura.

"Oh that's awful," she replied, looking just as saddened as Eren. "I'm so sorry Eren."

Eren only shrugged and sheepishly said, "Anyway, when I was going through that experiment, I could have sworn I heard her voice and felt her hand in my hair…I mean, it was probably just the medication, but it felt so real…"

"It most likely was the sedatives they gave you. I'm sure too much of that stuff, even for us, would have some strange consequences," Gwen agreed. "But, it could have also been your subconscious' way of adjusting to the situation. The tests are always traumatic from what I've heard and it could have triggered some kind of mental defense."

"Hm, maybe," he said. Gwen was more than likely right, and that got Eren wondering if it would happen again during his tests the next day.

"What was she like?" a timid voice suddenly asked, pulling Eren from his thoughts. He looked up and into soft blue eyes.

"Who? My mom?"

Andy nodded and moved to sit next to him on the couch, watching him with those wide, owlish eyes.

"Well, she was a really kind woman but she definitely wasn't afraid to dish out punishments," the brunette said, shuddering at the number of ear-pullings and scoldings he'd received when he was younger. His face pulled into a sad, but sweet smile. "She was a great mom, though. I just wish I'd appreciated her more when…when I was younger."

Eren swallowed down the lump that had formed in his throat. He had so many regrets when remembering his mother, especially on that final day.

"But you loved her yes? And she loved you?" Andy pressed, to which Eren nodded. "Then be grateful for the good times, instead of only regretting the bad. You're luckier than you realize, you know."

"What do you mean?" Eren said, frowning in confusion. Andy's eyes became sad and thoughtful.

"Many of us weren't old enough to remember our parents," she explained, absentmindedly playing with her long grimy hair. "I can't even remember my mother's name. Jimmy was only a baby when she died and I was too young to take care of us both by myself, so we eventually went to an orphanage in Karanese District."

Eren nodded, not wanting to pry and ask about their father. If he hadn't been mentioned, he probably hadn't been in the picture. Gwen kept quiet as well, listening to the story, though already having heard it before.

"There were so many children living there, it was hard to keep track of all of them, especially Jimmy," sighed Andy, rolling her eyes. "That boy just couldn't sit still to save his life. I was always chasing him around the town and keeping him in his chair at dinner. Poor Miss Merta couldn't keep up with him half the time and just made him my responsibility."

Eren chuckled at that. He had witness first-hand how over-active Jimmy was, even from having been there only a few days. Andy always seemed to be running around, forcing him to eat or put on proper clothes, mothering him to no end. It was no wonder she was more exhausted than the others by the end of the day. It reminded him of his own sister, and a pang went through him at the thought of Mikasa. He really missed her and Armin.

"Well, it really wasn't a huge surprise when he ran off into town one day. I searched everywhere for him, but I really wasn't worried. He always knew how to find his way back by the end of the day," And continued, her face falling. "But when he didn't come back by dinner I went looking for him and…"

She sighed again and hung her head, face void of emotion. "I ended up bound and gagged and thrown in the back of a wagon. Turns out Jimmy was there too, tied up just like me and just as terrified. They covered us with a tarp and took us out of town. Next thing we know, we ended up here. That was three years ago."

Andy finished her story and pulled her knees to her chest, resting her head.

The silence dragged on, with Eren unsure how to break it. He pitied her, that was a given, but he doubted that was what she wanted to hear. From the way she was staring off in thought, Eren assumed she didn't want any response from him. She just wanted to get her story out and let him know he wasn't alone in his suffering.

"Do you mind if I ask you a question? It's pretty personal, so if you don't want to, just say so and I won't ask," said Eren quickly, letting his insatiable curiosity get the better of him. It was something that hadn't quite bugged him, but it did intrigue him enough to ask.

"Well, I did just spill my life story to you, so I suppose one question won't kill me," Andy replied, a small smile gracing her lips. Gwen giggled at that and Eren jumped, actually forgetting she was there for a moment, and making her laugh harder.

"So, um, why do like being a girl?" he asked, worried he might offend her.

Instead of getting offended, Andy simply shrugged. "I've just never felt like a boy to be honest. I always preferred playing with dolls instead of going outside and getting dirty, and I was usually helping with cooking and cleaning while Jimmy and the other boys were out gathering firewood and hunting small animals. I always thought I was a girl on the inside and when I lived at the orphanage I started living as a girl on the outside, wearing dresses and growing my hair out. Guess I'm just a freak like that."

Eren snorted at that. "You're not a freak, Andy. At least, not for wanting to be a girl. The titan thing, I'm not completely sold on yet."

Both girls laughed at that before Andy calmed down enough to say goodnight, leaving Gwen and Eren alone. The boy was about to call it a night when Gwen stopped him with a hesitant hand on his sleeve.

"Something wrong, Gwen?" he asked, brows furrowed in concern.

She looked about to say something but then stopped, shook her head, and tried again. "Just…thanks. For what you said back there. Most people aren't too tolerant when it comes to Andy; even some of the other subjects aren't fully comfortable with her yet."

"Yeah, it's no problem. I actually have a friend who used to get picked on a lot, not for anything like what Andy's going through, but he was bullied for being a bit different," Eren explained, remembering a number of times he'd had to pick Armin up from the side of an alleyway.

Gwen smiled and nodded, before she abruptly stood and head to her room, hiding her face. "Um, well, goodnight."

"Night," Eren replied, oblivious to her odd behavior. He simply chalked it up to exhaustion. It was pretty late after all.

In his room, Eren stared up at the ceiling, worrying over the next day's experiments and greatly missing his friends and sister. He never really stopped thinking about them, but sometimes he could distract himself enough to make his chest hurt a bit less. Then there were times like these, where all he could do was think and if he wasn't so stubborn, he might have started bawling like a child.

The brunette tried to think of something else and his tired mind instantly latched on to the next day. He winced at all the possibilities and immediately didn't want to go down that train of thought. The only thing he had to look forward to tomorrow was the small chance that he might hear his mother again…

It was a stupid hope, but it was his only one at the moment, and he would hold onto it as long as he could.


	10. Chapter 8

**Hello, my friends! Yes, it's true I have returned from my long break with a new chapter! Honestly, I felt awful about leaving this the way it was (especially since I was so excited to start it in the first place) and with my medical problems sorting themselves out and being on break from college, I decided to tough it out and hopefully get through one chapter at a time! Updates will hopefully be weekly, but it all depends on my schedule.**

 **I hope you all enjoy my come-back chapter! Also, reviews would be greatly appreciated! Thank you! ^w^**

 **Chapter 8: Break Outs and Bite Marks**

It only took Eren two days of rigorous butchering (and the unceremonious branding to his right bicep that read: PT-SR), for the boy to realize what he needed to do. It would take a lot of courage and a hell of a lot of persuasion, but luckily, Eren had both of those factors. So after dinner had been finished and the doors had closed, the brave boy acted.

"Riah, I need a word," he said, nodding to a secluded corner of the room. The cat's tail flicked as she joined him, that spine-tingling grin plastered on her face.

"What ya need, Jaeger-boy?" she said, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed.

"You said you'd tried to escape before, right?" he stated, bluntly. He wanted to get straight to the point.

The feline girl suddenly tensed, eyes narrowing, and ears swiveling to gauge if anyone else had heard.

"I did say that. I also said we failed and we decided not to attempt another escape," she hissed, still trying to appear nonchalant but her ears and twitching tail gave her away.

"I know, but that was before I got here and I want to give it a shot," explained Eren, sending a reassuring smile to Hannah and Lily, who were both watching them. "I don't expect you to get involved and I'm not asking you to. I just need to know what you did before to get caught, so I know better. After I'm out I'll find help and—."

"And what? Come back and save us?" Riah barked out a laugh, doubling over and gripping her stomach as she wheezed in laughter. "Oh man, you're more delusional than I thought. Even if you do get out on your own, which is highly _highly_ unlikely, what makes you think anyone will believe you? Or want anything to do with this freak show?"

Eren paused, stumped for an answer. Riah snorted and shook her head. She was about to walk away when Eren grabbed her arm, his head hung and his face hidden.

"Please, Mariah. I need to at least try. If I fail, then all the blame goes to me, but I need to try and get out of this place," he pleaded. He looked up and Riah nearly shrunk away from the fiery look in his oceanic eyes. "I made a promise years ago that I have every intention to keep, but I can't do that here. Please, just tell me how you tried to get out, that's all I'm asking."

Riah stared at him, thinking over her options. Just as she opened her mouth to speak, another voice finally interrupted their little secret meeting.

"You two want to tell us what you're whispering about back there?" called Lily, gaining the attention of all the others in the room, besides Dove who was contently staring at the light fixture.

"Eren wants to escape," Riah replied plainly.

"Oh, here we go," Gabriel sighed, pushing his glasses back up and turning to his book. "I don't want to be a part of this."

"Why?" the brunette asked rounding on Gabe. "Why are you all so afraid of leaving? Yeah, I know, you'll be punished, but isn't being forced to stay here and become titan slaves worse? Don't you guys want to be free?"

"Honestly? It's not all bad here," Hannah said, shrugging and doodling on a notebook. "I mean, yeah, the training kicks my ass and the food tastes like dog vomit but compared to where Riah and I lived before, this place could be worse."

"Besides, even if we do leave, what are we supposed to do? We'll have to go on the run, because Violet will sooner jump down a titan's throat then let us go, and we'll have to deal with keeping our titan abilities under wraps too," said Lily, coldly. "Staying here means free food, shelter, and a warm bed, is that really so terrible?"

"Maybe for you it isn't!" Eren snapped, finally letting his rage loose. "You're not the ones being ripped apart on a daily basis! You're not being pricked and prodded with needles and given so many drugs you barely remember your own damn names! I've only been here for a few days, and I've experience just as much trauma as I have the last three years of my life!"

Silence followed Eren's outburst, most of it based in guilt. None of them had to experience what he was going through, so of course, they didn't know what it was like. The worst they had to deal with was sore muscles and exhaustion from training, and knowing what Eren was forced to go through made them all extremely uncomfortable.

"What do you suggest we do then?" Gwen asked timidly. "If we keep disobeying them, they'll probably make the punishments worse. They might even…"

"They won't kill us if that's what you're thinking," Gabrial said, cleaning off his glasses. "They've come too far and spent far too much money to simply kill us off and start over because we won't behave. Chances are they'll lock us in our rooms and only let us for training and necessities."

"Look, if we do get caught I'll take the blame for it," Eren said nobly. "It'll be my idea, I'll take the fall if we don't make it."

"Damn right you will," snorted Hannah.

"So…does that mean you'll help me?" Eren asked hopefully, looking around at everyone.

"I'll help!" Jimmy offered excitedly. "I hate this place anyway. There's not enough room to _run_."

"Well, if Jimmy's in, then I suppose I'll have to get involved as well," Andy conceded with a sigh.

"Ah, fuck it, what's one more escape plan?" sighed Riah. She thumped Eren on the shoulder, nearly sending him into the ground and added, "Alright, so you wanted to hear how we tried to get out before, yeah?"

"Right," Eren gasped, rubbing the place Riah had assaulted him and wincing. He really hated when she did that.

Eren sat and listen intently as Riah explained their past attempts at escape while being sporadically interrupted by the others in the group. Apparently, the group had tried everything from the most basic of sneaking out past the sentries to the complicated idea of mapping out an escape tunnel from the training room and then using their titans to slowly dig through to freedom while the guards were playing cards instead of keeping an eye on their training. Suffice to say, their plan was discovered after a cave in nearly crushed Gabriel while he was digging, and in all honesty, it probably wouldn't have gotten any further anyway. Riah even had a good laugh at one of Hannah's ludicrous plans to hypnotize the guards into unlocking their cells and escorting them to the front door, which only ended with the men snickering and shaking their heads in disbelief as Hannah attempted to wave a plastic pocket watch in front of their faces and order them to let the subjects out. After that, none of them gave much credit to anything Hannah came up with.

Eren sat and listened intently, weaving his own ideas and formulating a plan while the others babbled out as much as they could remember about their failed attempts. A few of them even managed to give Eren a clearer map of the compound and what guards were placed where and at what times. When all was said and done, and the room became quiet, the green-eyed boy sat and tried to sift through all the information the others had eagerly provided. Many pairs of anxious eyes bored holes into him while Eren turned over an idea in his head. It wasn't fool proof, or by any means simple, but it was definitely more of solid plan than anything he'd heard so far, the only problem was that he'd have to rely heavily on a certain subject for his plan to work and that alone could be abhorrently dangerous…

"Jeesh, kid, you look like you're about to shit your pants. Just spit out whatever the fuck your thinking so hard about," Riah snorted, lounging across the couch in a very unlady-like manner.

"Yeah, can't be any worse than what we've tried already," Gabriel added encouragingly.

"Alright, alright, I do have an idea," Eren admitted reluctantly. "But if we don't do it right, it'll seriously end bad for us."

"Eh, enough with the stalling, we know how badly it'll be if we get caught again, just hurry up and explain your plan before I get bored," whined Hannah.

"I'm not just talking about if we get caught! Look, have you guys considered using a distraction to get out of here?" Eren asked tensely.

"Of course, we have! We tried getting into fake fights, pretending our titans have gone rogue, hell we even tied Hannah to the railing in the training room and threw her off the balcony!" explained the cat subject irritably.

"That wasn't a distraction! You just threw me off because I wouldn't give you my dessert! By the way, I still need to get you back for that…" the tattooed girl hissed wickedly, an evil smirk plastered on her face. Riah only rolled her eyes, unimpressed.

"Okay, as I was saying," Eren interrupted, quickly nullifying the fight he could feel brewing. "I think we should trying using a distraction again, in fact we'll probably have to use two different distractions. The first one will keep the guards busy enough so one of us can grab one of their keys—."

"If you think taking their keys and sneaking out at night will work, it won't," deadpanned Lily. "We've tried it before and they immediately noticed their keys were gone. I mean, it's pretty obvious they've lost their whole key ring when they try to lock or unlock any doors."

"That's why we'll only take off the ones we need, which will hopefully only be one. It's much less noticeable and it'll give us more time to make our escape, but it also means whoever is taking them will have to be fast and unnoticeable," Eren explained, looking around at everyone for any volunteers. He wasn't surprised when he saw a tiny hand shoot into the air.

"I'll do it! I'll do it!" Jimmy insisted, practically bouncing in his seat. "I'm small and fast! I can grab the keys and put the rest back without them knowing!"

"But will you grab the right ones?" sneered Piers, who had remained in disgruntled silence the entire time and refused to contribute. "Also, how will you even know which key opens what? And chances are we're going to need more than just a couple, we'll need ones to open the cells at night, to open the checkpoint doors and finally to open the exit door which had two guards posted outside at all times. They'd have to be a moron not to notice that many keys missing."

"Maybe we don't need a key for all those doors," Riah implied, smirking. When she was met with suspicious and confused looks she rolled her eyes and dug around in her pockets for two pieces of twisted metal. "Manage to snag these from some broken weights in the arena and lucky for you bastards I'm damn good at lock picking. All these flimsy locks—" she waved around at their bedroom doors, "—I can pick easily. Hell, I bet I could even get us out of that door—" she nodded toward the common room exit, which definitely had much more security on it, "—but I know there's no way of getting through that main exit without a key. That lock will be way too heavy for a makeshift lockpick like this."

"Alright, so then all we need is the main exit key, right? Since the door at the top of the stairs is basically the same as this one, you should be able to pick it as well," Eren said thoughtfully, imagining the scenarios in his head. "Since I'm the only one who goes past that door regularly, I'll try to watch out for which key they use on it, then I'll point it out for Jimmy."

"What about the guards?" asked Gabriel. "They'll be posted at every door and if we make too much noise trying to take them down, that'll only alert the others."

Eren sighed and nervously wrung his hands. "I have a solution for that as well. It's actually the second distraction I was talking about before and it's going to be the most dangerous part of this whole mission but if we do it right, we'll all be able to escape before the guards even have a chance to stop us."

"Oh, now I'm interested," Hannah said, leaning forward in anticipation. "So, what are we gonna do?"

The brunette took a deep breath and rushed out the final piece of his plan.

"We're going to let Mathias loose in the facility."

* * *

Over the course of the next week, the subjects slowly put their plan into action by memorizing guard layouts, figuring out which key unlocked the front entrance, and planning out the perfect timeframe to launch their escape.

Initially it had taken some convincing on Eren's part to rally the other's behind his idea of using Mathias as a distraction for their escape, but in the end, they all reluctantly agreed to the insane but grudgingly decent plan. It wasn't the idea of getting caught that now frightened them, it was the terrifying belief that if they messed up Mathias would be dismembering them instead of the guards. They only had one shot at this, and Eren was doing all he could to make sure everything was air tight, even if it costed him a few sleepless nights.

When the day came that they were all relatively confident in their plan, Eren gave the signal to their first distraction after lunch: a mass fight.

"Hey! Is that my fucking shirt!?" snarled Riah at Hannah, while grabbing the front of her jade-green sweater. Obviously the two girls would be the ones to instigate the mock riot. "You been stealing from me again, you little shit?"

"Eh, fuck you, it looks better on me anyway," snickered Hannah, poking the bear aggressively. The two guards stationed outside their door heard the rise in voices and opened the door to investigate, only to nearly get hit by a flying chair that Riah had launched at her friend.

"Give it back, you fat fucking cow!" The cat girl tackled Hannah and started pulling at her hair and clothing. On cue, Gabrial and Eren jumped into the mix to pretend to pull the two apart while Gwen ushered the others across the room and away from the chaos.

Eren yelped when Riah elbowed him in the face and had to scramble back to prevent Hannah from sinking her teeth in his shoulder. Even though it was supposed to all be staged the girls were fighting like they were truly pissed at each other. Across from him, the brunette could see Gabriel struggling just as badly as him, and had actually managed to receive a bloody nose when he wasn't quick enough to dodge a blow from the rough blonde. There were shrieks of fury from Riah when her tail was stepped on or pulled and aggressive snarls from Hannah when Riah managed to bite into her tanned skin. Blood was actually being drawn on all four fighters, despite Eren and Gabriel's attempts to separate the two. It was truly a scary sight, even to Eren, who had watched and participated in plenty of fights back in training camp. Compared to these two, Eren and Jean's fights looked like child's play.

It wasn't until Lily joined in and pinned Riah to the floor, pummeling her face in, before the guards decided enough was enough.

Eren felt a pair of strong arms trying to pull him out of the cacophony of fists and kicks, but a moment later there was a loud grunt and a thud as the guard was yanked to the floor and into the madness by an unknown force. Pained exploded on Eren's arm as the heavy man landed on him and forced his arm to twist at an unnatural angle. This was not going as he predicted it would.

"We need back up down here!" yelled the second guard still on his feet and shouting up the stairs. Seconds later, three more guards came bursting into the overly cramped and chaotic room and after another few minutes of grunts and pained groans, the two hissing girls were finally pulled apart and restrained by the guards. Eren, Gabriel, and Lily sat a few feet away, wiping blood off their faces with their shirts and breathing heavily. Now, that Riah and Hannah were still, Eren could finally see their faces and he was shocked by what he saw.

Both of their eyes were focused intently on the other, completely ignoring the furious remarks by the guards. Riah's face was a bloody mess from being punched repeatedly by Lily and Hannah had several bite marks and bruises over most of her skin. All of the shifters wounds were oozing steam and causing the room to become foggy and dense. The two girls continued to stared at each other as if they absolutely despised the other and their eyes held a strange, animalistic ferocity that was never before present on either of their carefree faces. Riah's tailed flicked back and forth and her ears were flat against her skull in a defensive manner. If Eren didn't know better, he would have thought the two were out for kills.

"Now, who the fuck started this mess?!" snapped one of the guards, glaring at Riah as if he already knew the answer. When no one spoke out, he ordered the others to haul the cat and her bloody friend to their rooms, not bothering with medical treatment when most of their wounds were already healing.

Returning to the front room, the man that spoke earlier glared around at all of them before stopping on Eren, Gabriel, and Lily.

"And what were you three doing? Stopping it or participating in it?" he asked harshly.

"We were trying to stop it," grunted Gabriel, trying to clean his glasses in his bloody shirt. "We may have underestimated their anger at the time."

"That's an understatement," grumbled Lily.

Eren stayed silent on the floor while he cradled his injured arm. Luckily, it hadn't broken during the fight but it would definitely take a bit more time to heal than his other marks.

After a couple more questions, the guards finally left to return to their posts and all the subjects, besides Riah and Hannah, huddled in the middle of the room.

"Jimmy please tell me you got the key," groaned Lily, smoothing one of her bruises on her cheek.

Jimmy popped up from his hiding place behind the sofa and smiled proudly before lifting up a small silver key.

"Got it!"

The other subjects sighed in relief and Eren took the key from the excited boy. He went to his room and slipped it under his mattress for safe keeping before going back to the main room.

"Alright, now all we have to do is wait for tonight and then we'll make our move," Eren said, confidently.

"What time we doing this?" Gabriel asked.

"I told Riah to break us out around midnight. It'll be late enough that most of the guards will be off duty and we should be out and far away from here before dawn," Eren said, firmly. He stared around at the other subjects, worry and hoping that their plan worked out. "If any of you want to take belongings, just bring a small bag, we can't afford to be dragged down by too much."

Everyone nodded, already thinking over what they should bring and what should be left behind. They still had the rest of training that day and then the evening to pack up and steel their nerves, but most of them were anxious to leave at that moment.

"And when does _he_ get involved?" Gwen asked hesitantly, indicating Mathias's door.

"Gabriel and I will be let out ahead of everyone else and we'll take care of the…distraction. When we think the coast is clear enough, we'll come back, grab all of you, and get out of here," explained Eren, standing up and flexing his healed arm, wincing as it popped back into place. "For now, let's just tough out the rest of the day."

The others mumbled out in agreement and waited for the guards to return and take them back to training while Eren was dragged off for more tests. Luckily, Violet was going easy on him today and only doing simply physical exams, another reason Eren decided to proceed with the plan that day. Riah and Hannah were forced to stay in their rooms and await punishment, but hopefully they wouldn't be there the next day to receive it.

None of the subjects discussed the plan during or after dinner, too worried they might be overheard and too anxious to really voice their concerns or questions. Many of them went to bed early, including Eren, who wanted to go over every scenario in his head and make sure he had everything he needed before that night. He should try to get some rest as well, but he knew it probably wasn't going to happened, still he tried. Eren laid in bed and attempted sleep, still in his day clothes with his light duffle bag hidden.

Just when his eyes began to droop there was a clicking and jingling from his door. The shifter sat up in time to see it swing open to a triumphant Riah, yellow eyes glowing in the semi-darkness, and a reluctant Gabriel, lifting up a stolen lantern to illuminate the room.

"Hey, boss, ready to go?" Riah whispered, practically vibrating with anticipation while her ears swiveled on her head.

Eren took a deep breath and gathered his belongings, making sure the main entrance key was tucked safely away in his pocket.

"Yeah, I'm ready. Let's get this over with."


	11. Chapter 9

**Hello, readers! I am pleased to present to you Chapter 9! This chapter was surprisingly hard to write but I finally got it done.**

 **After this chapter there's gonna be a time jump to the Battle of Trost, where our subjects are gonna join the main time line again and interact with the other characters, but maybe not in the way you expect ;)**

 **Also, I need your opinion on whether or not to turn Eren's hair white or keep it brown. Since he's going to be going through the same inhuman torture as Mathias I'm toying with the idea of giving him Marie Antoinette Syndrome, which turns a person's hair white whenever someone goes through enough shock. It's what I gave to Mathias (who originally had reddish-brown hair like his titan) but I'm not sure about giving it to Eren too. Let me know what you guys think!**

 **Chapter 9: The Prices We Pay**

Everything was going relatively well for the shifters. Mathias had been successfully released into the training grounds with minimal scratches, thanks to Riah's quick lock picking and Gabriel's fast acting at disabling the guards outside their common room, and after retreating to the subject's area, they could hear the clomping of several heavy boots on the staircase as guards hurried to restrain the rampaging teenager. When they deemed the cost clear enough, Riah unlocked the rest of the doors and hustled out the group of sleepy but excited shifters, each one clutching their sparse belongings.

With only a few words of caution, Eren lead the way up the stairs, repeatedly looking over his shoulder at the training room door, where shouts and snarls could be heard from. It wasn't until an earth-shattering crunch and an ear-splitting roar ripped up the stairway and sent every shifter in a panic. No matter who Mathias' fury was aimed it, it still created an overwhelming instinct to run, hide, or submit in every subject. It was the suffocating power of an alpha that caused fear to course through their veins and force them to freeze in their tracts and stare fearfully at the door, too afraid to remember what they were supposed to be doing. The only one who held his ground was Eren, who quickly started pulling the others up the stairs past him and snapping in a low voice.

"Don't think about him right now! He's focused on the guards, just keep moving! Gabriel and Riah, take the lead and get those doors open. I'll hold up the rear if that makes everyone else more comfortable." He gave Gabriel the key as he passed with a nod of confidence to the shaky, dark-haired boy. The rest of them quickly filed after him, more than happy to have Eren between them and the door leading to one of their greatest fears. He was the only one could take down a rampaging Razor, after all.

At the top of the stairs, Riah was efficient at picking open the lock, despite her trembling hands, and everyone quickly emerged into the empty and silent entrance hall. Any guards that might have been there were downstairs dealing with Razor, just as planned. The only obstacle left between them and freedom was a heavy steel door and more than likely two guards stationed outside. Gabriel immediately started unlocking the door while Eren, Riah, and Hannah stood on either side, getting ready to tackle the guards.

"This isn't going to end well," a negative voice hissed, belonging to the pessimistic Piers, who was lounging against the other wall. "Doesn't this seem too easy to anyone? Like everything is going far too smoothly?"

"Are you seriously complaining about how smoothly our escape is going?" Lily snarled under her breath. "And for your information, this has been far from easy! You weren't the one getting their teeth knocked out by dumb and dumber over there!"

"Is she talking about us?" Riah whispered, glaring at the pale-haired girl venomously.

"I think that bitch is," hissed Hannah, slouching away from the wall as if to attack Lily. "Maybe she'd like another demonstration on how good we are at knocking teeth out?"

"Shut it, all of you!" Eren snapped, immediately silencing the fighting. "Focus on getting out of here and then you can bicker all you want!"

"Ha! Got it!" Gabriel said, triumphantly. "Damn key got stuck in the lock."

"Right, now when the door opens Riah and Hannah take the guard on the right, and Gabriel and I will take—"

"Um, guys? Where are the guards?" Jimmy asked, peeking his head through the small opening in the door with obvious confusion on his young face.

"What do you mean?" Eren questioned as he hesitantly looked through the crack. On the outside, the small clearing between the building and the forest was dark and lit only by the silvery light from the moon. It was also, surprisingly, devoid of any guards, even after carefully checking the sides, Eren was certain there wasn't a soul out there. This was a relief but it was incredibly suspicious. Surely, they would have kept the two guards stationed outside? Even with Mat raging inside, Eren was confused as to why they would have left the entire facility unguarded.

"See? This is too easy," grumbled Piers.

"They probably went to help with Mathias," Gwen said, nervously, though it was clear she was just as uncertain as the rest of them.

"Look it doesn't matter now, just get moving," ordered Eren, stepping back from the door. "Come on, I'll keep watch until everyone's in the forest."

When they hesitated Eren snapped a firm, "Go!" and ushered them out the door, keeping his eyes on the two inner doors to watch for guards. The second they stepped foot out the door, the subjects bolted for the forest, backpacks and duffle bags swinging frantically as they all ran at full speed for cover. Eren followed them, making sure to close the door behind him and continue to keep his guard up. Eren thought Piers had a point before, this did seem strangely simple, but he also wasn't the type to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Eren ran after the others, keeping a steady but quick pace at the back of the group. They ran for almost five minutes, before Jaeger had to stop them and they all huddled in the cover a large boulder. The forest around them was eerily quiet with only the occasionally scurrying of a small rodent or the lonely hoot of a solitary owl. The compound sat behind them in the distance, a dark block of stone sitting deceptively innocent in the open clearing.

"Alright, Jaeger-boy, what do we do now?" Riah panted, staring around in distaste at the foliage.

Eren frowned and looked up into the sky, trying to remember what little Armin had taught him about stars. He spun around, eyebrows scrunched together in concentration.

"Oh great, we broke him," Hannah snorted.

Eren paused his searching to glare at them before looking up again and pointing to one of the largest and brightest stars in the sky that made up the Little Dipper constellation.

"Okay, see that star there? The big one?"

Ten heads craned toward the sky and swiveled around to find the star Eren was referring to.

"That star indicates north. I remember from the ride here that there's a town just east of here. If we use that star as reference we should be able to make it to the town by dawn and hide out there so we can rest up and talk about where to go from there," Eren informed them confidently. Using the star to figure out the direction of east, he picked up his duffle and started walking at a fast pace.

"How do you know that star means north?" asked Lily, glaring suspiciously at it.

"A friend of mine use to teach me about stars and constellations, says if I ever get lost I should follow that star until I find my way back," the brunette replied easily. Eren was at the front of the group, but continued to look towards the building anxiously.

"Your friend sounds really smart," Gwen remarked, trying to fill with void of silence with small talk.

Eren smiled, thinking back to every time Armin had ran to his house, brand new book in hand, to show him everything he'd learned from it. He missed those days terribly.

"Yeah, he's crazy smart," he replied, looking towards the night sky. "Hopefully I'll get to see him after this is all over."

"I'm sure you will, Eren," said Gwen, taking his hand and squeezing it reassuringly, a sweet smile lighting up her lovely face.

Behind them, Riah and Hannah started making gagging noises, earning several irritated looks.

The group walked in silence after that, listening to the sounds of nature around them and for any suspicious noises that may indicate their recapture. Many of them were also too tired to continue conversation, like Jimmy, who was almost passed out while leaning against Andy. They were all going to need to catch up on their sleep when they were safe, even Eren was having difficulties, but he pushed through.

They all jumped at the snap of a branch overhead and every pair of eyes frantically stared at the trees, fearful and on edge. Eren tried to soothe them while also keeping a vigilant eye on the darkness around them. When they began to calm down and continue their journey, Eren thought they might actually be in the clear, so of course that's when everything had to go to hell.

There was a sharp sound of compressed air and a sting of pain hit Eren's neck. He flinched and stumbled, hand swiftly rising to his neck to find what had hit him. His fingers brushed over smooth, cold metal and when he pulled his hand away, there was a small cylindrical dart in his palm.

The world started to blur and spin around him, but Eren could only blink stupidly at the tranquilizer, before slowly forcing his gaze on the others. It was as if the world moved in slow motion and the dark colors of the night smeared into each other. Through this haze, Eren could barely make out the crumpling forms of his fellow subjects, as each one was hit with their own sleep darts and fell to the ground. He could see a few of them reaching out to him and to each other in a desperate plea for help, but it was definitely over for them.

Jaeger fell to his knees, holding off the sedative longer than the others, but not enough to make any difference. If his limbs didn't feel like lead bricks he might have been able to transform and protect them as a last resort. His body slumped to the ground, and in the last moments before unconsciousness took him, a pair of sleek heels stepped in front of his vision and from above him, Eren could hear a low, smug voice.

"Oh, my dear child, I don't think you've even realized what you've done," she said in mock sadness. Eren lifted his eyes and was met with that strange violet color. "Such a shame really. I was hoping you'd be more cooperative, but I suppose I'll have to actually break you now…"

Eren tried to glare at the demon woman towering over him, but suddenly his eyes closed and the world went black.

* * *

A rough bump jostled Eren out of his dazed dreaming and he slowly opened his eyes to the inside of a lavish carriage. He blinked and sat up, only to be greeted with a set of chains shackled around his wrists and ankles, preventing movement. On either side sat two heavily armed guards and across from him, long legs cross and a nauseating smirk on her face, sat Violet.

"Ah, you're awake. Good, we've almost reached our destination," she said, pleasantly, staring out the window. Eren followed her gaze and felt a shock run through him at the sight of the massive wall slowly getting larger as they approached. Surrounding them were tall, stone houses and people bustling past their carriage, running errands and making conversation on the street.

"What city is this?"

"This is Trost," replied Violet. "But this won't be our stop."

"Then, where are we going?" Eren asked nervously. The boy knew he was in serious trouble, but he was confused as to why Violet wasn't scolding him or punishing him. Her calm demeanor only serve to put him off and make him shift uncomfortably in his seat.

Violet smiled brilliantly at him and answered, "We're going on top of the wall. There's something I think you'll be interested in watching."

Now the shifter was definitely bewildered. What was there to see on top of the wall? Besides large plains teeming with titans. Was she going to feed him to one of them? The random thought sent a shiver down his spine. Surely, she wouldn't do _that,_ would she?

"Tell me, Rogue, did you really think escaping was going to be that simple? I mean, how stupid do you think we are?" Violet said in a derisive tone.

"Managed to get pretty far, so you can't be that bright," mocked Eren, knowing he was probably going to pay for his words later.

Violet raised one perfectly sleek eyebrow.

"You truly believe you managed to get out of the compound all on your own? Oh, my dear boy, we knew what you were planning from the very beginning."

"Then why let us go that far?!" Eren snapped, angered by Violet's smug face.

"To show how futile it is to try escaping. No matter how much you plan or how far you think you're going, we'll always bring you back," she replied.

While trying to come up with a retort, Eren didn't notice they had stopped along the eastern wall, about a mile from the gate leading into titan territory. He was forced out and into a deserted section of the city. Climbing up the side of the wall was a lift system, waiting to bring them to the top. Eren eyed it suspiciously before being shoved unceremoniously into it, followed by Violet and the guards.

"Where are the other subjects?" Eren asked, staring at the slowly receding ground as they ascended the stone wall.

"They're back in the facility, awaiting their punishment," Violet said, her face souring for once. "I should probably also mention that thanks to your little failed escape plan, you and the rest of the subjects have lost your common room privileges. Now, you will all stay in your rooms twenty-four, seven and are only allowed to leave for testing, training and bathroom breaks. Understood?"

"But I'm the one who came up with the plan! It's all my fault, don't punish them for my stupid idea!"

"Yes, we are well aware of your involvement," Violet said coldly. "But as it is, you did not force them to go, that was their own choice, so they must be punished for it. You all must be punished for it."

Eren glared at her, but then sighed and stared at the ground. This was his fault, he had enough humility to admit that and now everyone else would suffer for his terrible mistake.

Still brooding over his actions, Eren stumbled slightly when the lift abruptly stopped and he found himself at the top of the wall. Wind whipped at his hair and burned his eyes, but he was forced forward and out of the cart. Violet silently led them across the surprisingly wide section of wall and stopped to lean slightly over the edge of the titan territory. Eren had the sudden urge to push her, but he assumed the two guards armed with maneuvering gear would catch her and then he certainly be in for serious punishment.

"Ah, excellent," the warden said in a satisfied voice before she straightened up and beckoned Eren to her side. "I'm sure you're wondering why we're standing on top of Wall Rose?"

Eren glared suspiciously at her before slowly nodding. He turned back to the open view ahead of him, but really there wasn't much to look at besides scraggly trees and a few wandering titans. The boy tried to understand why they were up. Maybe Violet was going to give some kind of inspiring and bullshit lecture to try and persuade him to behave back at the facility. If that was the case, then it sure as hell wasn't going to work.

Suddenly shouts echoed up to their position on the wall, and Eren spun around to stare at the town. Clustered outside the outer gate was a large crowd of people. Eren would have thought they were townsfolk having some kind of meeting if it weren't for the massive amount of dark green and the several wagons sprinkled throughout the group. When it finally clicked who they were, the boy gasped.

"I'm sure you're familiar with the Survey Corp, yes?" Violet said, grinning as she watched the scene below.

"They're going on an expedition?" Eren said, stupidly.

"Mhm, but they aren't important right now," replied Violet, forcing Eren to look towards the horizon again.

A second later, there was the loud grinding of sound and more encouraging shouting and Eren turned to watch in awe as the Survey Corp sprint forward out of the gate and then slowly spread out into small groups that expanded across the plains. Eren felt a swell of hope in his chest at seeing humanities greatest soldiers going out into the unknown to combat the titans. He was going to be one of them someday, Project Titan be damned…

Unfamiliar movement suddenly focused Eren's attention back to what was in front of him. Standing a few miles from the gate and directly in the path of the left side of the Survey Corp formation, was a very strange-looking titan.

The creature had to be at least seven meters tall, with short, sandy hair and a fit physic. It wouldn't have been any different than any of the other titans if it weren't for the translucent skin covering the beast and revealing most of its internal organs. The entire thing was completely see-through, except for the patch of skin on the back of its neck, which was so thick it was impossible to see clearly into it, adding extra protection for that sensitive area. Eren stared at the grotesque thing in bewilderment until Violet's next words froze him in horror.

"Recognize him?" she asked, devilish smirk still on her face. "I doubt you've seen his titan before, but surely you've heard about Anatomy's strange appearance?"

"Jimmy…" Eren whispered in terror, his body beginning to shake. "You can't…you can't do this."

"Oh? And why not? He belongs to me, just as you do," Violet said before giving an exaggerated sigh of remorse. "I hate that it had to come to this, Rogue, but you just don't seem to grasp the situation you and the other subjects are in. So, drastic measures have to be taken."

"B-but, what about all your research?! Don't you need all your subjects? Isn't he important in some way?" Eren gasped, struggling to think of reasons for Violet to call off whatever was about to happen.

"Truthfully, we have gathered all the information we can from him," admitted the devil woman. "Outside of his transparent skin, Anatomy does not possess any desirable traits that we deem important. He isn't exceptionally strong or fast, nor does he have any abilities that could be useful later. Once we extracted everything we could about the inner workings of the titan body, it became clear he was expendable."

Eren trembled in unbridled rage and fear as he watched two of the small groups circle Jimmy's titan in a wide range, as if debating whether to kill him or not, while Jimmy simply watched them and attempted to sweep them away with his long arms. The titan didn't seem aggressive and was barely trying to attack them, every now and again, letting out a huge warning roar. What Eren couldn't understand was why Jimmy wasn't running. Surely, he understood the danger he was in?

"We may have given Anatomy a little something to make him hostile," Violet said, reading the confusion on Eren's face. "We had to get him to attack the Survey Corp somehow right?"

Before Eren could remark, Jimmy suddenly charged at the humans, letting out an enraged roar as he did. Eren shouted at him to stop, knowing full well it wouldn't reach any of them. He was becoming so hysterical watching the soldiers jump from their horses to attack Jimmy that the guards had to grab him and hold him still. All he could do was watch as blades slashed into the translucent titan, cutting his legs and arms and forcing him to the ground.

"N-no, please, I'm sorry! I'm sorry, please! Please, make this stop, don't let them kill him! PLEASE VIOLET, STOP THEM!" Eren begged, struggling against the guard's arms as tears of anger and sorrow streamed down his face. He had to get down there! He had to save Jimmy before the soldiers ended him!

"Then how will you learn your lesson, Rogue? This is your punishment for going against Atlas, and for going against me," Violet replied, coldly. She watched the scene before her with little regret. When Eren tried to turn away, to not watch the inevitably death of one of his fellow subject, Violet grabbed a handful of brown hair and forced his head up, lips curled in vicious smile.

"You're going to watch him die, boy. He's going to die because of the actions of a few unappreciative and selfish children. I have had enough of these 'attempted escapes' and after today, I expect no more of this foolishness from you or from the others!" Violet was incredibly close to his face, eyes blazing with fierce insanity. "You belong to me, Eren Jaeger. Never forget that."

Eren could only watch, with Violet hissing in his ear and the guards holding him down, as one of the soldiers zipped into the air behind Jimmy, spinning incredibly fast, before slamming down onto the titan's weak spot, killing the titan's body as well as Jimmy's human body inside. The titan crumpled to the ground and let off clouds of steam. The soldiers advanced on it in curiosity, before being called back onto their horses and into the formation. The guards released Eren and he fell to his hands and knees, staring wide-eyed at the ground and trying to process the horrible event he had just witnessed.

As the soldiers disappeared into the distance, Violet turned to one of the guards.

"Retrieve the body and meet us back at the facility. We can't take the chances of them finding it on the way back," she instructed, pulling back from her psychotic grin and back into a professional face. She stared down at Eren in barely contained triumph.

The guard lifted the boy up and supported him as the three of them made their way back down the wall to the carriage, which had been hidden in a small alleyway. Eren allowed himself to be stuffed inside, his body still numb with shock, as Violet and the other guard climbed inside and the carriage started off. Eren stared out the window, refusing to look at the murderer sitting across from him. He flinched when he felt her clawed hand on his shoulder.

"I hope you've learned your lesson, Rogue. I won't tolerate insubordination and after today you're tests and training will be harsher," Violet informed him, in a hard voice. She pulled back and looked out the window as well. "You are my titan soldier now, and I hope we can gain some kind of mutual trust in the future. For now, I'm content with keeping you and the others in line and making you as strong as possible."

Eren hands shook with barely suppressed rage and anguish but his face remained impassive, refusing to give the murderer across from him any satisfaction.

"You'll appreciate everything we do here, one day," Violet said, confidently. "We're doing this for the greater good of humanity."

Eren stayed silent the rest of the way back, numb and tired. If Violet wanted him to behave, then fine, he would do just that…for now.


	12. Chapter 10

**Wow, I have never gotten so many reviews on a chapter before! Thanks guys! I really appreciate all of you taking time out of your day to review my story and I love that so many of you are still enjoying it!**

 **You'll probably already read it in this chapter, but I've decided to keep most of Eren's hair brown and only have the front section white, since many of you preferred it if he kept some of his natural hair color. Now to answer some of your reviews!**

 **A few of you mentioned Kaneki Ken from Tokyo Ghoul when I ask about the hair thing and I did actually draw my inspiration from that. I'm a huge fan of Tokyo Ghoul and I thought the white hair would be a neat thing to try out.**

 **I do apologize to anyone who was upset about Jimmy dying last chapter, but I needed a very strong reason for Eren to go against his own rebellious nature in exchange for helping his fellow shifters (and thereby progressing the story). I thought his overwhelming urge to protect everyone and shouldering the blame would be a good way to go about it. Sadly, Jimmy had to be the sacrifice :(**

 **But anyway, I hope you all enjoy this next chapter! I'm super excited about the chapters here on out, because this is when things really get going!**

 **Chapter 10: Glimmer of Freedom in a Cage of Slavery**

 **Two Years Later**

 _SLAM!_

Eren slammed Gabriel to the ground and pinned him in a choke hold. Gabe struggled and clawed at Eren's arms in a desperate attempt to salvage the fight, but after nearly a minute of getting strangled, he finally tapped out. Eren released him and jumped to his feet, a wide grin on his face. The boy on the ground groaned and sat up slowly, rubbing his throat.

"Did you have to be so rough?" Gabriel gasped, wincing and stumbling to his feet. Eren stared down at him, frowning.

"You expect to get better by me going soft? Pfft, and here I thought you could be a tough fighter, but hey, guess I'm wrong," Eren said, shrugging and wiping off his forehead with a rag.

Gabriel grumbled to himself, refusing to meet Eren's sharp gaze. "Think I'll warm up on the punching bags. Not like I could beat you anyway, _Rogue._ "

Jaeger rolled his eyes and scouted out the room, searching for a new opponent to spar with.

The six other subjects who had been allowed to train (Riah and Hannah had gotten into a nasty fight, so they were sentence to their rooms) were all paired up and practicing their takedowns. Over the past years, they had all drastically improved in their hand to hand combat, a vital skill when fighting titans in their titan forms. Eren would suspect that they'd be as good as any training cadet with how hard they trained and how well they fought. Truthfully, this was more Eren's doing than anything. Before he'd started pushing the others to accept their fate and train like true soldiers the other subjects would just slack through their practicing with the bare minimum. Now, they practiced hard until their knuckles bled and their muscles screamed for relief. After a year of this harsh training laid down by Eren, Violet was pleased enough with their progress to allow them to learn how to use the ODM gear. They wouldn't use the gear as their primary attacking force but merely as a way of getting from place to place without using up their energy to shift. Not to mention it was much less noticeable then a few giant, man-eating monsters walking through the forest.

Seeing that everyone was too engrossed in their training to switch out, Eren simply walked around the room and watched their progress. He was by no means their teacher or an expert in fighting, he left that to the instructor Atlas hired, though he did have a slight advantage with his previous military training, as short as it was. Currently, the instructor was coaching Dove and Gwen on how to perform a decent choke hold, only problem was Dove was laying on the ground staring contently up at the ceiling and Gwen was the only one actually trying. With a sigh, Eren walked to their small group and stood over Dove, eyebrow raised.

"Slacking off again, huh Dove?" he said, nudging her side with his foot.

"Hm?" Dove said, airily. Her blank eyes rolled over Eren's face but it took another minute for her to register who was talking to her. "Hello, Eren."

"Hello, Dove, mind telling me why you're sitting on the floor instead of training?" Eren asked, his voice taking on a softer tone. No matter how much Dove irritated him with her slacking off, he couldn't find it in him to properly scold her or push her back into her practicing. He doubted it would do much good anyway, since she usually forgot everything she'd learned by dinner. He put his faith in Lily instead, who was currently on the ground with Piers in a headlock. She was a vicious fighter and even more so when in her titan, despite Dove's handicap.

"The rocks are shining today," Dove replied, lifting her hand to point towards the rocky ceiling.

Eren sighed and switched his attention to Gwen, but a booming voice forced him to look towards the balcony.

"Rogue! Ms. Drake wants to see you in her office!" called the guard. "I am to escort you to her immediately!"

Rogue rubbed his forehead but jogged to the stairs and climbed up to the arena entrance. He met the guard and the two of them left and started up the stairs to the entrance hall.

"Know what this is about, Joel?" Eren asked nonchalantly. Out of all the guards, Joel was the only one that Eren liked enough to have conversations with.

"Not a clue, kid," Joel said, shrugging.

"Hm," Eren hummed. Truthfully, he had a pretty good idea about why he was being called and it more than likely had to do with Riah and Hannah's fight earlier. After all, he was supposed to oversee them and keep them in line. Eren winced at the punishment he was no doubt going to receive for not taking control of the situation quicker. They were his responsibility after all and have been for over a year now.

"I see they still haven't figured out how to fix your hair, eh?" Joel remarked with a chuckle as he ruffled the front of Eren's hair, which had become a stark white and a huge contrast to the rest of his dark brown locks.

Eren snorted and pushed his arm away. "Probably can't do anything about it. You saw Mat's hair, right? I'm just surprised it hasn't all gone white like his." He ran a hand through his own hair, frowning at the white strands that fell in his face. His hair was starting to get kind of long again, but he wasn't concerned enough to care.

"Yeah, but you've got a stronger will than Mathias, which is probably why you're not chained up in a cell right now, gnashing his teeth at anyone that passes by," Joel replied, shuddering. "Damn that kid gives me the creeps."

"What does my will have to do with my hair, though?" Eren asked skeptically.

Joel waved his hand dismissively and said, "It's got something to do with shock or something, which is why you and Mat are the only ones walking around looking like you got a can of white paint dumped on ya."

Jaeger chuckled at that, despite its dark undertone. Even with his drastic changing over the years, at least he could still enjoy a good a laugh, something many of the others rarely did anymore.

The two stopped at Violet's office, which was the largest door down the laboratory hallway.

"Good luck, kid," Joel said, slapping his back and opening the door.

Eren stumbled inside and glared at the guard before the door closed. He turned and stood straight, eyeing the women behind the impressive, dark-wooded desk with a reserved but respectful look.

"Ah, Rogue, I'm glad you finally arrived," she said, putting her papers down and folding her hands on the desk, resting her head on her folded fingers with a smile. "Oh, have a seat, why don't you? What I have to tell you may take some time."

Eren frowned at that, but took the seat anyway, relaxing into a more casual position. Normally, if it involved some wrongdoing by the other subjects he would be immediately lectured and then sent to the sensory-deprivation chamber, Violet's favorite form of punishment. To say he was intrigued and relieved was an understatement.

"I'm sure you're curious as to why I called you in here?"

"Honestly, I thought it had to do with Kitty and Bones' fight earlier," Eren said, indifferently. When speaking with Violet, she would always correct him about saying the other shifters name instead of using their titan names. Now, they only used their personal names in private.

Violet simply waved her hand and rolled her eyes. "Oh, those two are always getting into fights, I've just given up when it comes to them. No, the reason I've called you in here is much more important and urgent. I'm sending you and a small team of your choosing to Trost District."

The atmosphere changed and Eren sat up straighter. Eyes brightening with astonishment.

"You're letting us out of the compound?" he asked, incredulously. "We finally get to use our abilities in combat?"

"Well of course! What would the point of having titan soldiers be if they weren't put in action? No, I've simply been waiting for the right opportunity to arise." Violet's expression became serious. "And it seems that time has come."

"The Colossal Titan has attacked Trost and titans are flooding into the town as we speak."

Eren jumped to his feet, horrified and enraged.

"Are you serious?! Then what the hell am I still here for?!" Eren made for the door but was halted by Violet.

"Wait, Rogue! Before I send you out there. I need to know that I can have complete trust in you, understand? There will be guards accompanying you but they have been instructed to only act if they believe you or the others are planning to escape. I'm letting you out as a sign of good faith and I hope you would return my favor by completing this mission to save Trost and returning here safely. Can I trust you to do that?" Violet gave Eren a stern, set look, wanting very much to trust the young titan prodigy she had helped shape.

In response, Eren stood tall and gave a military salute, expression determined. "You have my word, I will do everything possible to completely our mission and return back at the end of it. I will never let anything happen to the others."

Violet gave him a genuine smile, something he rarely saw, and excitedly replied, "Excellent, then I have nothing to worry about. You'll be allowed to take five others with you, and you leave in twenty minutes."

"Does Gemini count as one or two?" Eren asked, a genuine question but said with a little smirk.

Violet thought for a moment, an amused smile on her face before saying, "I'll count them as one."

Eren nodded and turned to leave, his hand on the doorknob when Violet gave him a final word.

"Oh, and just a reminder. Be very careful around the humans. Don't let them see any of your human faces or reveal what you are. If all goes well, they will only suspect you to be a few helpful, abnormal titans. Is that clear, Rogue?"

Without turning, Eren gave his response. "Crystal."

Jaeger left for the training grounds, already planning out who would be most useful fighting in a large, compact city, while also devising a plan for plugging up what would be a giant hole in the wall. This was not going to be easy, but they were finally being allowed to leave, and that alone put an excited smile on the boy's face.

He would complete his mission and he would protect his team, that was a promise he had every intention of keeping.

* * *

 **Trost District**

 **The night before the Battle**

The cadets of the 104th training unit were celebrating their graduation with a feast in the district of Trost, enjoying their last moments of relaxation before they choose their regiments the next day. Exhilarated shouts and excited talking echoed through the dining hall as the trainees laughed in relief that the grueling training was over. Sitting in a corner of the room, however, were two people less than excited for the event. There was definitely something missing for them and they just didn't feel right partying with the others.

Mikasa sat at her table, picking at her food and frowning at her plate, not in the least bit hungry. Next to her, Armin sat just as solemnly, while their cadet friends sat around them, enjoying themselves and cheering about their top ten placements. It was hard for the two friends to enjoy their night when their main reason for joining was no longer with them.

"He should be here right now, celebrating with us," Mikasa mumbled, pulling her scarf up.

"I know, it doesn't feel the same, right?" Armin agreed, looking up to stare around the room. "I bet he'd be so excited for tomorrow, talking about finally getting to join the Survey Corp and going out to kill titans."

"And then he'd get in a fight with Jean and I'd have to break it up," Mikasa added, a small smile forming on her face, before it dropped again. "Where do you think he is right now?"

Armin shrugged sadly. "We don't know anything about the people that took him, even Instructor Shadis didn't know where they were going or why they took Eren."

"I'm going to find him," Mikasa said a moment later, her eyes blazing with determined fury. "I don't care how long it takes, I'm finding him and I'm bring him back."

Suddenly several of their friends slapped themselves down on at their table, each one carrying their mugs with them, or in Sasha case her whole plate.

"Still moping about Eren, are we?" Jean said, sliding a bit too close to Mikasa.

Mikasa gave him the evil eye and scooted away, saying, "Of course, it isn't right. His only dream was to join the Survey Corp and fight titans, but that's gone now because he was taken away."

"And we'll never know what happened to him," Connie said, unintentionally insensitive. After a swift elbow in the ribs from Sasha, he added, "I mean, I'm sure he's just fine wherever he is. Hell, maybe he's happier there."

Mikasa thought that highly unlikely, but wanted to believe him. It was better than imagining her brother trapped somewhere and tortured daily.

"I miss Eren too," Krista sighed, patting Mikasa's shoulder in an attempt at comfort.

"Yeah, you know how boring dinner got without Jean and Eren picking fights with each other every day?" chuckles Reiner, taking a sip of his drink. "Damn, those were good times."

"As much as I hate to say it, I actually miss that hot-headed, suicidal bastard," sighed Jean. "He made the competition interesting."

"You know we're supposed to be assisting each other, not competing, right? The military is about helping and protecting others, not seeing who's the best at combat training," Armin pointed out, without any heat.

Jean simply snorted and said, "Yeah, but a little competition is healthy, makes winning all the more fun."

"And what rank were you placed in again? Fifth?" Sasha sneered, still more engrossed in her food than the conversation, but taking enough time to send a jab at Jean.

The boy glared, his cheeks slightly red with embarrassment. "I'm still the best at the ODM gear, you know! And fifth is still high! It's better than yours, Potato Girl."

"Stop calling me that!" Sasha huffed before mumbling, "I slip up one time and now everyone gives me crap for it."

Reiner started laughing at his friend's antics. "Guess we don't need Jaeger to rile up Jean anyway! He practically does it himself!"

Mikasa couldn't stand to sit there and listen to their happy banter and playful comments when she was in such a foul mood. This was supposed to be Eren's day as much as theirs. How could they simply brush him off and assume he's just fine? None of them knew where he was, and for all they knew, he could be dead and lying in a ditch somewhere. Didn't any of them care?

"They didn't know him as long as we did," Armin whispered, correctly interpreting Mikasa's annoyed and loathing expression. "He's been our friend for years, but they've only known him for one. I'm sure they're just as worried, but they don't want to think about it right now."

"Then I guess they weren't really his friends," she hissed back, getting to her feet with sharp, jerky movements. Everyone at the table stopped their conversation to watch her sulk out of the room. Armin stood as well, getting ready to chase after her, when Krista asked in concern.

"Is Mikasa okay?"

"She's fine, I think she just wanted to get some air," Armin replied, making his way to the door. "I'm going to check on her."

"I'll come with you!" Jean insisted, getting to his feet before being pulled down by Annie.

"If she wanted to be hit on by you, she would have stuck around," the blonde said coldly.

Without waiting for Jean's retort, Armin left and started his search for his friend. Thankfully, she was sitting on the steps of the alley just outside the door. He took a seat next to her.

"Do you think we'll ever see him again, Armin?" she asked, sounding tired and sad.

"I don't know. All we can do is hope he's okay for now and maybe in the future we can—"

"I think, I'm going to leave the military and search for Eren," Mikasa announced indifferently.

"B-but Mikasa! What about all your hard work? You're the top cadet in our entire training unit!" Armin replied, surprised.

"What good is it to join the Survey Corp if he isn't here? He was only reason I joined the military in the first place and without him here…" Mikasa sighed and pulled her scarf up to hide her face.

Armin looked up at the star-littered sky, trying to come up with a good response. In all honesty, he was having second thoughts as well, but he had enough motivation from his grandfather's unjust death to push them aside. Mikasa didn't have her motivation anymore, and the blonde had no idea how to help.

"What if you could search for him while still being in the military? I'm sure the Military Police would be more than happy to have you and then you could look for Eren all you want. From what I've heard, they aren't a very attentive most of the time. You could probably search pretty easily from there," Armin suggested, half-heartedly. He honestly didn't want another friend to leave him, but he didn't want to be selfish either. And if Mikasa could find their missing friend, then it would a good thing for her to join another regiment, right?

"I'll…think about it. I don't really feel comfortable leaving you to join the Survey Corp alone, though. What kind of friend would I be if I just left you to fight titans on your own?" she replied, lifting her head to stare at the stars as well. "We have till tomorrow to decided."

Armin nodded, but inside he was relieved. At least she hadn't made any rash decisions yet.

The two sat on the steps through most of the feast, barely talking and just enjoying the night. They would be called in for curfew soon, but for now they just sat there, thinking about tomorrow and how far they'd come, and the friend they'd lost along the way.


	13. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11: Little Details**

The horse-drawn wagon bounced uncomfortably along the dirt road. The two guards in the driving seat were paying little mind to the seven titan shifters sitting irritably in the wagon. Violet thought it best if they took a nondescript, open-aired wagon instead of the usual lavish carriages. Every shifter had a dark cloak of rough fabric draped around the shoulders and long enough to hiding their ODM gear. They kept their hoods down for the time being, but when they entered Trost they would pull them up and hide their faces from any onlooking humans. Hopefully, they would be mistaken for Garrison troops if someone did manage to spot them.

Eren stared ahead, watching as they drew closer to Wall Rose and noting the mass number of people evacuating through the gate. They would steer clear of them and scale the wall at a deserted section to get into the city, but Eren was still concerned about being seen. It had been nearly an hour since he'd been told the Colossal Titan had appeared and destroyed Trost's outer gate. From what he could tell on this side of the wall, the situation was not hopeful, and he flashed back to five years ago, when he lost almost everything to that massive bastard.

His fists clenched, but he kept his face neutral in case the others caught onto his anger, but despite his precautions, he could still feel them tense up instinctually at his hostile mood. They knew this situation hit their leader hard, so they refrained from talking to him about it. Truthfully the shifters were all excited to finally be let out of the facility, even if it was for a dangerous mission. They had confidence in themselves and Eren to get the job done without too much injury. This left them all giddy and nervous at the same time.

As they pulled up along the section of wall a good mile or two away from the overflowing gate, Eren finally spoke.

"Everyone remember their jobs?"

They all nodded and hopped out of the wagon. They had gone over their positions at the beginning of the journey. Eren, Gabriel, and Hannah would head towards a large boulder their guard had suggested might be a good way to block up the hole in the wall. They hoped to God, Eren would be strong enough to lift it while the other two took out the titans blocking his path. Meanwhile, Gwen, Lily, Dove, and Sophia were given the task of clean up, so their objective was to roam Trost and take out the titan's in the city once the gate had been closed. Until then they had to lay low on the city roofs until Eren and the others finished their job and made it safely out. If all went well, they would be out by sundown and the citizens of Trost would be safe again.

"Remember everyone, if the Armored Titan shows up, we'll focus on taking him down first and then we'll plug up the hole. We won't have any way of blocking a second hole if he succeeds in getting through the inner gate," Eren explained looking over his team. They all nodded in understanding. Behind them the guards still sat in their seats, waiting for them to scale the wall before following at a distance. "Right then, let's get moving!"

Eren turned and shot his wires towards the top of the wall before propelling himself up, the others followed after him. He waited at the top for everyone to successfully climb up, before saying, "Gwen I wanna talk to you quickly before we head off. The rest of you go on ahead, we'll catch up."

"Eren, we kind of need you when we get into Trost," Gabriel said nervously.

"I know, and I'll be there when we start the mission. I just need a quick word is all, won't take more than a minute or two," Eren insisted. "Just wait on the edge of the wall for us, alright?"

"Fuck, just let him talk to his girlfriend, Gabey," Hannah snickered, pulling her hood up and taking off across the wall. She called over her shoulder to Eren,"Just don't start making out while we're trying to save the world, got it!"

Eren rolled his eyes and sent them off. Gabriel sighed but pulled his hood up and followed Hannah, the rest right behind him.

"Bet he's giving her a snappy little speech about staying safe while she's out there," Hannah giggled as they ran.

"They aren't even together, you halfwit," Lily sneered, blond hair pulled up and tucked carefully under her hood. "He's probably just talking to her about what to do if one of us gets injured. She is our medic, you know."

"Then why keep the conversation private?" Sophia asked in her soft high-pitched voice, holding hands with Dove to keep from tripping or falling off the wall.

"Who gives a shit? Just shut up and do as you're told," Lily snapped.

They slowed down as they neared the corner of Trost, and had to stop completely to wait for Eren and Gwen, who showed up a second later with their hoods up. Behind them, they could see the guards waiting where they had first climbed up.

"Alright, I think the boulders in that direction," Eren said, pointing off in the distance to an open section of town. "Come on, you two. And good luck to the rest of you. Remember, hide yourselves until the holes plugged. We can't take any risks with this."

They all nodded and muttered good lucks before Eren, Gabriel, and Hannah took off across the wall and leaped off towards the roofs below. Gwen, Lily, Dove, and Sophia leaped off the wall as well and agilely shot out their wires to land on the roofs below, before taking off further into town. Sophia didn't have ODM because of her obvious disability, so she piggybacked on Lily, and then hopped off when they landed safely on their desired house somewhere in the center of town.

"Alright, we'll stay here until we hear the signal to start ripping up the titans," Lily instructed, taking point in their little group. She took a set on the slanting rooftop and pulled her cloak tighter around herself. Dove and Sophia joined her, making sure their hoods covered most of their face. Gwen stood at the top, watching the horrid scene around her with a nervous look. "Oi, might as well sit, Angel. It's gonna be a long wait from what I can tell."

"All those soldiers," Gwen whispered, eyebrows pulled together in distress. "There's so much death here."

"Not surprised," Lily replied with a wistful look. "For as long as human's have been fighting titans, they've never once had a successful encounter with them, and they've all ended in an unbelievable number of deaths. Isn't that why we're here? To help the humans actually win for once?"

"I suppose, but we should have come sooner," said Gwen, staring at seven-meter titan with its face covered in gore and an arm hanging from its mouth. "We could have saved so many…"

Gwen's eyes suddenly widened as she scanned over the houses several meters away. Standing and sitting on these rooftops was a large group of soldiers, covered in blood and many of their heads bowed in defeat. She was too far away to see any of their faces, but she could tell by their posture, they were injured and traumatized.

The girl shifted where she stood, fighting the urge to jump across and help those poor souls, but she wasn't allowed to show her face or reveal any of them to the humans. They were to wait until the signal, then fulfil their goal, but still…

"Don't even think about it, Gwen," Lily scolded, cold eyes watching her closely. Dove and Sophia finally turned their attention to the other two, after pulling themselves out of their riveting conversation about the cloudy sky.

"What's Gwen not supposed to think about?" Sophia asked.

"She wants to help out those human soldiers on the other roofs," explained the blonde.

"Why shouldn't I go help? I can heal them quickly. I could save so many lives!" Gwen insisted, never taking her eyes of the other group. She frowned. "Why aren't any of them retreating over the wall? If so many of them are hurt, why don't they get to safety?"

Lily sighed and rubbed her forehead irritably. "Listen, Gwen, those few humans aren't our responsibility. As sad and frustrating as it is not being able to help, saving a few individuals isn't our mission. You gotta think about the big picture, not the little details."

"So we just let the soldiers die then? We let them sit there, injured and dying, while we wait here for a signal that could take hours to come?" Gwen asked, turning on Lily with fire in her eyes.

The blonde stared at her, astonished by the furious look on her friend's face. She was certain she'd never seen mousy little Guinevere like this before and it left her speechless.

"Human lives aren't little details, and if they were, then what the hell are we fighting for?" she said, strongly. She stepped forward and pulled out her swords. "Look, I'm not asking you to follow me, in fact, it might be better if you stayed here and waited for Eren and the others. At least then, only one of us would be in trouble."

Lily stood up and grabbed Gwen's arm. "Don't be stupid, Gwen. If all goes right, then those soldiers will be fine. Why are you in such a rush to screw up everything?"

"Please, Big Sis, just stay here like Eren said," Sophia begged, attempting to stand up only to have Dove steady here back down.

"I'm sorry, guys," Gwen replied, sounding tired. She stared at the soldiers in front of her before jerking Lily's hand away and leaping into the air. "This is something I have to do!"

Just as Gwen started swinging between rooftops, a loud thunderous clap and a streak of blinding lightning struck the city to the east, nearly sending the girl tumbling to the ground in shock. Behind her, she could hear Lily and Sophia crying out to her, telling her to come back, but they wouldn't follow. She knew they would never disobey the Alpha's Orders.

Regaining her balance, Gwen took off again, her eyes roving toward the incredible sight. In the far distance, standing at a whooping fifteen meters tall and wrapped in bulging muscle was Eren's intimidating titan, Rogue. No matter how many time's she'd seen him, it still sent shivers down her spine every time he appeared. Rogue truly was terrifying, but with his sudden appearance, a jolt of determination and purpose shot through Gwen and she turn back to her mission, hand reaching up to adjust her hood, mind focused on the dozens of men and women only a few houses away and ignoring the loud, ground-shaking footfalls. Ahead of her, every human was staring in the direction of the blast, looks of terror and confusion on their faces. From their angle, it was probably impossible to see much of Eren over the tall buildings, even Gwen was having trouble seeing more than the top of his torso and she was soaring high in the air, but that explosion definitely got their attention. None of them noticed when Gwen landed gracefully on the one of the rooftops and rushed to the nearest wounded soldiers, a young man with a gash across his stomach and a missing leg.

She fell to her knees next to him and without giving him a single word started pulling out a jar of cherry red liquid and several bandage wraps. The poor boy was barely conscious and his fellow soldiers no doubt thought he was a lost caused, but Gwen had more hope. Her elixir was a mix of her own blood, which held strange healing properties, and her saliva, which acted as a numbing agent (not that she would tell the soldiers that). As far as she knew, none of the others had the same abilities, so it must just be special to her. The second she dabbed the liquid on the stomach wound, the soldiers began to relax. That's when the other humans noticed her.

"H-hey! What are you doing?! W-Who the hell are you?!" snapped one of soldiers, rushing to her and the unconscious young man.

"Who I am isn't important right now. All I can say is I'm actually here to help," Gwen replied calmly. Many of the others men and women appeared around her, watching what she was doing. "This medicine will heal wounds quickly and numb any pain. If you would like to help me, I'd appreciate it if you gather up the severely injured and bring them to this roof so I can treat them."

Many of the stunned soldiers had no idea how to respond to this strange girl that had appeared out of nowhere to assist them. A few tried to ask her more questions, growing irritated when she didn't respond, while the rest just did as she asked, finally glad to have something productive to do. One of them, a young man with a sandy blond undercut and a long face, knelt next to Gwen, suspicious expression on his face.

"Not that I'm against some extra help, but why the hell are you here? You don't look like a normal medic and I don't see any regiment insignias on you," he said, trying to peak under her hood to see her face.

"I'm Angel if you need a name, and I'm not a part of the military. I'm just here trying to help," she stated, quickly standing and moving on to the next poor soul while the relatively uninjured soldiers watched her in apprehension and suspicion. The sandy haired boy tried his interrogation again.

"Well, _Angel_ , just where did you come from? That ODM gear is only supposed to be used for military purposes and—"

"Please, I would appreciate if you didn't lecture me right now about unimportant business," Gwen replied tiredly. She finally looked up at the boy next to her, not hiding the sadness and remorse she held for these poor injured humans. "I don't mind speaking with you about the situation here and now, but please, I would appreciate it if you let me work to save these people. I need to focus on them, not on answering your questions."

That halted whatever the boy was about to say next and with a clenched jaw, he nodded but didn't leave. Perhaps he didn't fully trust Gwen or her expertise, after all she wasn't any older than the rest of them, but whatever the reason, Gwen didn't care and chose to ignore the stare digging into her side. She was on to helping the next soldier when he finally spoke again.

"Even if you manage to save them now, it won't matter in the long run," he said, looking up to stare at the titans around them. "We've got no way of retreating without gas and none of us have enough to even make it to the base of the wall."

"Why not get more than? Surely there's a supply house close by?" Angel said, frowning.

The boy snorted and pointed toward a large, castle-like building in the distance, which was completely swarming with titans. "We'd love to get more gas, but the supply house is completely overrun and from what we've gathered the supply runners are completely holed up inside, too cowardly to bring us the gas we need."

Well this explained the doomed and hollow expressions on the soldiers faces and while she worked, Gwen desperately tried to think of something that might help the soldiers get gas. She could give her own, after all it was only for convenience, but that would probably only help a couple of them. Truthfully the only way to get everyone safely over the wall was by clearing out the supply depot, but for that she'd either have to transform or ask one of her friends for help…

"Damn, can anyone see what caused that huge explosion?" one of the soldiers whispered.

"Who cares? It was probably just a titan destroying one of the buildings," a young blond woman with a white hoodie responded. She had piecing blue eyes and an uninterested expression that made Gwen feel very uncomfortable around her.

"What about that flash of light?!" exclaimed a short boy with a shaved head. "Jean, what do you think it was?"

The boy that had been talking with Gwen, frowned and replied, "I have no idea, but honestly I don't care enough. We need to come up with a plan to get out of here."

"Oh, so now you actually wanna fight?" snapped the other boy, golden eyes furious.

Jean glared at him. "I'm not saying we're gonna live through this, in fact, chances are we're all going to die here, but I'd rather be actively trying than sitting here on my ass waiting to get swallowed."

"Alright, so how are we going to get rid of those titans around the supply depot?" asked the other boy, staring around. Only Gwen was listening to their conversation, so she was the only one who gave a response.

"I may have a way of clearing out that depot, but it would require me leaving to get my friends," she said, regretting it almost instantly. There was no way she could convince Lily to help the humans before the gate was sealed, and if she refused than the other two would as well. Sophia may have been Gwen's sister but even familial love wasn't enough for her to disobey direct orders.

"You mean there's more of you?!" the short boy asked, surprised.

"Yes, but I don't know if they'll agree to help, they have other missions to fulfill," Gwen replied, sweating to keep the details from these two human soldiers.

"So was helping us your mission?" Jean asked, skeptically.

Gwen paused for a moment, debating on how to answer, before vaguely saying, "Not exactly."

"What does that mean?"

Gwen sighed but kept her head down. "It means I'm technically disobeying orders by being here and helping you. I don't even want to think of the punishment if our mission fails because of my actions." She shuddered at the last part.

"Well, guess I should thank you for going against your orders to help us," the other boy said, kneeling beside her and trying to sneak a look under her hood while he held out his hand. "I'm Connie by the way, Connie Springer. And the asshole over there is Jean Kirstein."

"I'd shake your hand but…" Gwen lifted her hands to show the blood staining them and Connie nodded with a slightly green look on his face.

"How did you learn to do all this medical stuff anyway?" Jean asked.

"It was a part of my training," was all Gwen said, trying to dodge as many specific questions as she could.

"You seem a little young to be a medic though," Connie added, out of more curiosity than suspicion.

"I suppose you could call me a prodigy," she remarked with a hidden grin.

"Oh huh," Connie replied stupidly, head tilted. He tried to take another look under Gwen's hood but failed against when she turned away. "So are you gonna take off that hoo—"

Thankfully Gwen was saved from answering that by the bone-shaking thudding of large, running feet. All the cadets snapped their attention down the street where a massive, dark-haired titan was sprinting toward them, eyes blazing green and teeth exposed. Gwen instantly recognized this creature but was stunned as to why he was so far away from his objective. All around her, the soldiers began to freak out, while she was hastily trying to think of a way to explain herself to her leader. Oh, this was not going to be pleasant.


	14. Chapter 12

**Ugh I feel so terrible about posting so late, but college and work have been destroying me! Anyway, enough with excuses.**

 **Some of you seemed to think Eren had lost control of his titan form, but that actually wasn't the case, as you'll read now. I'm sorry if my last entry gave off that feeling.**

 **To the Guest that had asked me numerous questions about the future events, all I can say, is that it will be taking a different turn from the anime, very different. Most of what happened after the battle will not involve Eren, and in fact it will be a little longer until anyone figures out Rogue is actually Eren, but I'm hoping it will still come out interesting!**

 **Hope you guys enjoy this chapter, a review is greatly appreciated! :3**

The beast of a titan slowed and skidded to a halt in front of their building, sending several cadets running towards the nearby buildings to escape him. Many of the others were either too injured to move or too stunned by the titan's sudden appearance and speed. Jean and Connie had attempted to grab Gwen and pull her away but she held her ground and before the two boys could escape, the titan was above them, freezing them in place with its piercing eyes. The only others on the roof appeared to be the cold blond girl, a beefy young man with short golden hair, and a tall boy with dark hair and eyes. They were all shocked into place by this creature before them.

Then the titan moved, lifting his closed hand to the humans. To Gwen's complete amazement, he opened his hand and sitting in his palm, shaken but unharmed, was a young soldier with blond hair, watery blue eyes, and a baby face. When the human didn't move onto the rooftop on his own, the titan pinched the back of his jacket with his other hand and gently placed him next to Jean and Connie, who's shocked expressions would have been hilarious if not for the situation.

"Armin! Armin, man, are you okay?!" Connie yelled, checking over his friend and shaking him when he didn't respond. Armin blinked and then slowly turned to Connie, his face locked in an expression of numb confusion and fear.

After a second round of shaking, he finally nodded and said in a breathy, trembling voice, "I'm f-fine, Connie."

Jean continued to stare in horror at the titan, whose attention had shifted from the blond boy and his human comrades to Gwen's huddled form beside a wounded young woman.

" **Angel** ," the titan hissed through his deformed maw, having trained himself to speak through his titan form despite his teeth, something none of the others could accomplish yet.

Gwen flinched and cursed every deity out there for this turn of events. She shakily got to her feet and with every human's eyes on her she answered her leader.

"H-Hello, Rogue. I wasn't r-really expecting you to find me here," she said nervously. Though she had little to fear from Rogue, she knew this would not look good should Ms. Drake hear about it.

All around her, the humans gasped and shuddered in disbelief, but none of them knew how to react to his turn of events.

The titan narrowed his eyes, looking livid but before he could scold her, Gwen hastily added, "L-listen, I know you're probably angry at me right now, but could you save it for later? Please, Rogue? I know I'm supposed to be with my team, but I couldn't just sit there and watch all these humans suffer! I had to help, Rogue! Don't you see?"

Gwen continued to ramble on, growing more and more frantic as Rogue continued to simply stare at her, face impassive. In her panic, her hood fell down and exposed her flustered face.

"A-and, and if they can't get those titans off the supply depot, they won't have enough gas to get over the wall and retreat. They'll all die here if I don't do something!"

" **ENOUGH**!" Rogue snarled out, silencing Gwen and terrifying the rest on the roof.

The titan stared down at her before lifting his head to stare at the titan-infested building in the distance. She could see him debating it in his mind, and she hoped to any god listening that he would agree to leave it to her.

"If I can just get Gemini or Cana to clear it out, we'll still have plenty of time before the mission is completed," Gwen said quietly, afraid to draw his wrath again. Next to her she could feel someone step up.

"You want to help humans, right?" said the blonde boy, Armin. He was clearly afraid, but tried to keep composed. "If we can just get you to kill those titans around it, we can get inside and refill our supplies. Can you at least do that for us?"

The titan turned back to glare at Armin, who shrunk back slightly, before he let out a grumbling sigh.

" **I will kill the titans around the building, but once you are inside, I must return to my mission** ," Rogue said, preparing to burst toward the depot, but before he took off, he turned to Gwen and said, " **I trust you know what you're doing, Angel."**

Gwen nodded, face determined. She grabbed her swords and prepared to follow after Rogue.

"We aren't seriously going to rely on a titan to fight for us, are we," one of the soldiers asked fearfully.

"At this point, we don't have much of a choice," another one answered.

All around the soldiers drew their swords, nervous but determined enough to follow through on the insane plan set before them.

Rogue took off with a jolt of speed and a blast of dust and crushed stone beneath him. An adrenaline filled roar ripped through the air and all the soldiers let out their own warriors yells before taking off after him toward the infested supply house. Gwen followed closely behind her leader, gripped with joy that her plan to help the humans was going this well. She would have to give her deepest gratitude to Eren later for this.

* * *

 **Earlier in the mission**

Eren stood on the roof of one of the many ruin buildings in the demolished city. Before him stood several titans, clawing to get to him and blocking the rest of the way to the boulder. He had anticipated there being quite a few of these bastards but he never imagined there would be _this_ many and it greatly hindered their plan.

"Glaring at them won't make them go away, you know," Gabriel smirked. He and Hannah stood behind Eren, waiting for instructions.

"Damn, worth a shot," Eren replied, a smile on his face. His expression cleared then when more titans appeared behind their building. "This is going to be much harder than I anticipated."

"Ha! When does anything go our way?" snorted Hannah. "Hey, think I could spit in one of their eyes?"

Before either of the boys could scold her for thinking off topic, she bent over the edge and sent a large glob of spit down onto the titans before, nailing one in the eye. "Ha! Bullseye!"

"Focus, Hannah," Eren said in exasperation. Of all the people he could of picked, he just had to choose her for the delicate mission. "Now, I guess, I'm going to have to shift sooner than expected to clear out these bastards. You two save your energy until we get to the boulder."

"Look, dude, I know you can handle yourself pretty well, but that's a lot of fucking titans down there," Hannah grumbled.

"I know we aren't supposed to shift until you've got the boulder, but there's way too many of these bastards to fight through by yourself," Gabriel stated logically. "I say Hannah and I shift and plow through them so you have a clear path. You're the one who need their strength more than us."

Eren sighed and stared unblinkingly at the disgusting monsters before him. "Maybe you're right. It's a better plan than I've got, so we'll—'

Eren abruptly cut off when the sound of panicked screaming echoed through the air and his head whipped around in the direction of the sound.

There, kneeling on a rooftop several meters away, was a small soldier with short blond hair. He seemed to be frozen to the spot but looking relatively uninjured. Around him, titans swarmed the streets, creepy faces smeared with fresh blood that Eren could smell all the way on his roof. His nose wrinkled in disgust at these monstrosities and his anger flared at their indifferent bloodlust. It was nearly five years since he'd seen on of these abominations and he was greatly looking forward to slaughtering every one of them.

Eren found his attention drifting back to the poor soul slumped on the tiles. Suddenly, he froze and his eyes widened in shock, his mouth going slack in horror. Before Hannah or Gabriel could stop him or ask what he was doing, the brunette took off across the roof and shot out his wires in the direction of the soldier. The other two yelled after him, but he didn't respond. Instead he flung himself into the air and bit his hand, shifting instantly into his titan form.

Once he was fully formed, Rogue took off in dead sprint toward the soldier, completely ignoring the two shouting behind him. He was thriving on pure instinct and the need to protect.

Another titan had reached the boy before he could. The gray-haired giant stood in front of the blonde for a moment before lifting its hand and grabbing the boy's jacket, yanking him into the air. Rogue charged faster, eyes blazing an unearthly green and filled with rage. The disgusting titan didn't have any time to react before its head twisted to the side from the force of the punch and its nape brutally jerked out by Rogue's sharp teeth. The titan slumped to the ground, dead.

The screaming of the human pulled Rogue from his bloody rage and he pushed out his hand at the last second to quickly snag the boy from the air before he could splat on the ground. He pulled his palm close to him and stared at the human, concerned but also slightly amused by the boy's unnecessary trembling. When the boy finally looked up, Rogue saw the fear in his watery blue eyes turned to confusion, probably at not being eaten.

Eren smiled inside his titan body. It had been so long since he had seen his friend and even in this dire and inconvenient situation, it was wonderful to see Armin again. He couldn't stop staring at that boy sitting in the palm of his hand like a little doll, though the poor guy was probably terrified at the moment. Armin simply continued to stare up into Rogues unnatural eyes, as if he thought looking away would mean his certain death. That blonde head suddenly snapped to the side when Eren's cloaked teammates appeared on his shoulder, panting and growling under their breath.

"Are you trying to get us killed?!" snapped Gabriel, readjusting his glasses. "Did you forget we have something important to do?!"

"Yeah come on, man, you could have at least told us what—," Hannah began to say before she froze at the sight of the human sitting in her captain's palm. She cocked her head to the side.

"You nearly ruined the mission to chase a _human_ ," she snorted derisively.

Rogue snarled at her, silencing her immediately. How dare she mock his good intentions especially when it came to his friends, though she had no idea Eren knew this human.

"W-Wait, you were s-saving me?" Armin trembled out. When Eren nodded, the boy's face became shocked. "And you can understand human language?"

Hannah snorted in amusement and leaned against Rogue's thick neck. "You saw us talking to him before, right? Yeesh, I know humans aren't the brightest but damn, dude!"

"Excuse me for being more than a little in shock!" snapped Armin, his nerves far too frayed to deal with his strange person's insults. He turned back to the titan, becoming cautious yet curious. "So what…are you exactly? I mean, you look like a titan but you have human intelligence…"

" **I would explain it** ," Rogue replied in a deep, rough voice, his vocals cords aching with the strain of forming words. It was something he preferred not to do often if he could help it. " **But now is not the time. I will bring you to safety, but then I must return to my mission.** "

Armin had jumped initially when Rogue spoke, have never met a talking titan, but was now staring at him in fascination before he came to his senses.

"What mission? Are you planning to help us? Is that why you saved me, because you're on humanity's side?" Armin questioned excitedly. He didn't know when he'd get a chance like this so he wanted to make the most of it.

"Look, we can't tell you that, kid," Gabriel spoke for Rogue, knowing speech was difficult for him in this form. "Right now, we can't tell you anything. Rogue…"

Eren turned his head to his teammate to show he was listening.

"Bones and I will wait here for you and we'll try to clear out some of these monsters while you're gone, but you'll need to be fast if we want to get this done by sundown," Gabriel said, whipping out his swords as Hannah mirrored his actions.

" **Be careful, and stay alive until I get back** ," Rogue growled. They both nodded before taking off in the direction they came from.

Without waiting a second more, Rogue cupped his hand over the other, protecting the human between them without harming him, and took off toward the heavy scent of human almost a mile away.

Eren knew he had acted on instinct and had probably hindered their plan greatly by doing so, but he didn't regret it in the slightest. He had saved his best friend, so how could regret that? This was why he fought, why he risked his humanity and his freedom. He did it for them, for Armin, Mikasa, his mother, and every friend he'd made along the way. He'd fight for them until he lost every ounce of strength in his body, a promise he had made long ago, and one he planned to always keep.


	15. Chapter 13

**Yes! I actually got this done at a decent time! Now I won't bore you with a bunch of author notes but I will reply to the reviews I've gotten.**

 **I'm just as excited for the big reveal as you guys are! Sadly, it won't be for quite some time, but I promise it'll be amazing! And don't be afraid to ask any questions you may have about the story or critic my writing, I appreciate everything you guys have to say!**

 **Hope ya'll enjoy this next chapter! And don't forget to review! 3**

 **Chapter 13: The First Victory**

"I can't thank you enough for helping, Rogue," Gwen babbled in gratitude. Rogue let out an answering grumble but said nothing else.

When Eren had decided to take Armin back to the other's he never expected to find Gwen among them, struggling to heal the wounded while also keeping her identity a secret. Of course, that had gone out the window when Rogue showed up, but at least they had refrained from using each other's true names.

To say Rogue was annoyed that Gwen not only disobeyed orders to wait for the signal but had also revealed herself to humans was a huge understatement. Truthfully, he had no room to talk, since he had done basically the same thing, and if all went well, it may turn out better than he had originally planned...

As for helping the humans get into their supply depot, well he was already this deep in, and that rock will be there twenty minutes from now. The only reason they hurried before was in case the Armored Titan showed up, but should he decide to show up before Eren got to the rock, then he'd take him down first and continue with his mission. There were probably so many ways this new plan could go wrong, but at the moment, Eren was only concerned with the titan swarm in front of him.

Getting to the base was simple with Rogue plowing through the enemy with ease and the human's taking out the few titan's he couldn't reach, with Gwen's help of course. The further they fought through, the denser the number became, until they had to fall back and wait for Rogue to clear out the area around the base before they could even get near it.

Around her, Gwen could feel the anxiety coursing through the group of misfortunate teens. She knew many of them still had doubts about trusting a fifteen-meter monster to help them out, but at this point, it didn't really matter. They had made their choice, and Gwen was certain it was the right one.

"This side is clear, just smash through the windows and we're in!" ordered Jean, letting this wires fly. Gwen was surprised with how quickly everyone followed, but perhaps they had all just been waiting for someone to speak up.

The sound of breaking glass and thudding bodies briefly drowned out the titan fighting outside as everyone safely landed inside a room filled with desks and bookshelves. Gwen immediately tended to anyone severely wounded and to those who she had treated before, to ensure they were still stable. She made sure to pay special attention to the blond boy Eren brought, thinking he might be important to the captain, after all, it was rare for him to go against the plan, even to rescue a human. All around her, the soldiers cheered and sobbed in relief at reaching shelter while, for some reason unknown to Gwen, Jean grabbed a shaken soldier and punched him across the face before a dark-haired boy with freckles stepped in to stop him.

"Man, that thing's something else," one of the soldiers remarked in awe, staring out the window at Rogue. The titan was covered in steaming blood and giant, dissolving corpses lay at his feet. He was breathing heavily but still stood tall in the mess of gore. He looked like a god in the heat of battle.

"Less just get our gas and get the hell over the wall," Connie growled.

"And how do you plan to do that, with titans in the supply room? That titan out there is too big to fit in and take care of them," Jean snarled back.

"I might have an id—." Before Armin could finished his sentence another soldier came crashing through one of the side windows and rolled to a stop in the middle.

"Mikasa!" Armin exclaimed in surprise.

The newcomer, Mikasa, stood up and brushed off any excess glass on her clothes.

Gwen's first impression of this girl was that she was surprising beautiful, with a strange, exotic look, short black hair, and a crimson scarf to compliment her milky skin. She was beautiful but had a dangerous aura that set Gwen's instincts on edge. Yes, this girl was pretty, but she was lethal too.

 _This is Mikasa Ackerman, huh?_ Gwen thought in dejected envy. _No wonder Eren talks about her so much…_

"Armin, thank god you're alright," the girl sighed in relief and looked around herself. "What's the situation here? How's everyone else?"

While Armin and the other's filled Mikasa in, Gwen focused on her patients all the while trying to suppress her jealousy towards Eren's old friend. From the way Eren talked about her, it was clear he only saw her as a sister, but did Mikasa see him that way? There wasn't any way to tell, but whatever the answer was the brunette still compared herself to this hardened soldier, and she definitely didn't see herself in the better light. Who was she to compete with someone Eren had loved for years, sibling love or not? The dissimilarity between her and Mikasa depressed Gwen greatly.

There was also the issue of getting back to the others somehow without anyone noticing. She didn't want to stick around and risk exposing Eren's plan in some way but if she left too hastily they might notice and try to follow, if not to keep her from leaving than to sate their curiosity about her. She couldn't risk either option, so what was she to do?

Gwen looked up to stare out the busted windows at Rogue, easily taking down the few opponents around the area. Maybe she could go with him? He'd protect her right?

Before she knew it, she was being hustled out of the room and into a lower area with no windows and barely lit torches. Inside, she was panicking. How was she supposed to escape now?!

She tried to push her way back through the crowd, but there were too many of them pushing and shoving and trying to get out of the windowed room. She didn't even have time to desperately shout at Rogue for help before the doors were closed and she was stuck inside with the herd of human soldiers. If she was panicking before, now she was practically in hysterics, but she tried to keep her face neutral and not draw too much attention to herself. She may be able to sneak out just yet.

"Look what we found," said Jean, coming back from the storage room with a long, dusty box. "Courtesy of the Military Police, and covered in a layer of dust."

Whispers and talk erupted around them as the rifles were pulled out and examined. In the corner of the room, Armin sat with Mikasa and four other soldiers Gwen hadn't met, two blonde and two dark-haired. They were whispering about a plan to take out the titans below and from what Gwen could hear, it wasn't a bad idea. She was pretty impressed with the timid human.

While the humans went through the finer points of the plan and began to prepare for its execution. Gwen frantically tried to find a way out, but there were too many people around the doorway into the other room to leave without being noticed. All she could do was curl up in the corner, observe these humans and pray for an opportunity to escape. She just hoped the others were okay out there without her.

"That complete bitch!" snarled Lily, stalking across the roof top, teeth bared. "She's going to ruin this whole damn mission because she's got a bleeding heart for those humans! What's going to happen to us if we can't complete this mission? We'll be dead meat!"

"Please calm down, Lily," Sophia said, fearful of the blonde's growing rage. "We can't change what's happened, we just gotta pull through this mission without Big Sis."

"So, we have to do her work on top of ours? Great," Lily growled. She clenched her fist, itching to destroy something and let her anger out, but she had to wait for the signal. _She_ knew how to follow orders.

"It's so quiet," Dove whimsically sighed, head swaying.

"Yeah, bit too quiet if you ask me," Lily agreed, staring in the direction Rogue had taken off in with unease.

They had all witnessed Rogue's sudden appearance, they expected it, but what they didn't expect was to see the dark-haired titan take off in the opposite direction of the boulder and go off God only knew where. The tall buildings made it difficult to see his intention, but Lily had a sneaking suspicion it had to do with Gwen. Had Eren run off to save her ass?

"Gwen, just what the hell have you done?" Lily muttered, staring off into the direction her friend had left in.

Gwen sighed and remained in her little corner, fretfully worrying over her teammates and her own safety. Most of the humans had cleared out almost ten minutes ago, to carry out their plan to clear the supply room. Those who were left in the room were too injured to stand or hold weapons, so they were to rest safely until the others were finished. She could probably leave without any of them thinking anything of it, but at the same time her motherly instincts were telling her to stay and make sure none of their conditions worsened. These feelings were warring against her survival instincts and she had no idea what she was supposed to do. Sometimes she hated being so nice.

Not a moment later, the elevator returned up the shaft and stopped. Two humans got off and informed everyone in the room the mission had been a success. Gwen let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding since the elevator reappeared.

The injured humans were helped onto the elevator by Gwen and the returning soldiers. They descending down into the lower supply room, and Gwen clenched her shaking fist. This place was reminding her too much of her cell back at the facility and she didn't appreciate the reminder.

On the bottom floor, Gwen busied herself with helping those who were having trouble refilling their equipment. She was thinking about her escape plan when a voice from behind made her jump.

"So, you're the mystery girl."

Gwen spun around and clutched her chest, trying to slow her rapidly beating heart.

"Good grief, don't you know not to sneak up on someone like that?" she gasped, feeling like she'd gotten the scare of her life.

Mikasa frowned. "Sorry, I thought you heard me walking over. I'm not exactly quiet with all this." She tapped the bulky metal at her hips.

"I guess I was just wrapped up in my thoughts," Gwen replied sheepishly, she shook herself and added, "And, um, yeah, I guess I'm the mystery girl."

"Hm, from what I heard you helped out my comrades quite a bit, and I'm wanted to thank you for that," Mikasa said. "I also wanted to ask what you know about that titan outside."

At her words, the rest of the room fell into a dense silence, everyone wanting to hear her explanation.

"U-um, well I-I," Gwen stuttered out, unsure about how much to tell them. She couldn't exactly say he was a shifter. That would ruin their whole plan!

"He's, uh, a friend of mine," she offered, hoping that would satisfy them. Of course, it didn't.

"Where exactly did you meet this _friend_?" Mikasa question, skeptically. "Who is he, who are you, and why are you helping us?"

"Yeah, and how did that thing talk?!"

"Is he on our side?"

"Where did you guys come from?"

A barrage of questions flew at Gwen from all over the room. Many of the soldiers who had finished their reloading swarmed around the poor girl, demanding answers, but she was too overwhelmed to even squeak. What was she supposed to do?!

Her saving grace came in the form of loud, heavy thuds that shook the building they were in. Even on the lowest level they could feel the ground tremble beneath them.

The soldiers all scrambled outside, with Gwen hot on their heels. They used their gear to swing up to the top of one of the roofs and then froze in place, looks of shock and disbelief on every face. Gwen swung up next to them, apprehensive at first, but quickly turning to joy at the sight.

On nearly the other side of the city, a massive boulder, the size of a small house, was slowly moving over the houses toward the hole in the gate. Underneath the rock was Rogue, who was barely visible from their position but there was no mistaking that rough dark hair and that terrifying green stare. Two titans stood as guards, one on the front and one in back, fending off hungry titans trying to get at Rogue. Gwen instantly recognized them as Hannah and Gabriel.

Hannah's titan, Bones, didn't get that name for nothing. His male form looked very similar to Rogue's, though maybe a bit slimmer, and on his chest and face were strange bone-like armor. It looked like his ribcage and skull have been pulled forward and the skin removed. It had a haunting effect and never failed to strike fear into human's everywhere.

Gabriel's titan, Light, was slightly shorter than the other two, but by no means weaker. His short white-blonde hair shown like a spot of sunlight in the grimy city and though it was hard to see from so far away, Gwen knew his eyes would be completely white, staring blankly ahead of him.

The need to help surged through her, but she knew she had to stay back. Even if she knew how to fight, she wasn't good enough to be of any use to them at the moment. Her main priority was healing and since her friends seem to be holding their own well, she decided to hang back and not interfere. Knowing her, she'd probably mess it up in some way.

"Is this really happening?" someone whispered in astonishment.

"What's he going to do with that boulder?!" another exclaimed.

"He's heading for the hole in the wall! Maybe he's going to plug it with that big rock!" said a young man excitedly.

"What are those other titan's doing," whispered another woman.

"They're guarding him," Mikasa answered confidently. Gwen wasn't surprised to see how perceptive the girl was.

"Guarding him from the other titans?" Armin wondered, brows narrowed in confusion. "If he needs to be protected, that means the others see him as a threat."

As they all watched, a swarm of titans descended on the shifters from every alleyway on that street. Gwen tensed and watched, hoping they could pull through it, but when Rogue stopped in his tracks, she knew there was a problem.

"They're overwhelmed!" Connie exclaimed.

Gwen clenched her fists but she was fighting a losing battle against her instincts, because in the next instant, she was sending her wires out and rocketing off toward the giant boulder and the titans underneath it. Screw the mission and screw Eren's request. If he died, it would all be for nothing and she wouldn't risk that.

Behind her was the sound of whirring and clunking and when she turned back, she was shocked to find Mikasa and Armin closely behind, with at least half of the other soldiers following behind them.

"We want to help!" Armin yelled over the wind in their ears. "If that titan is going to seal the hole, then we need to help it get there!"

Tears swelled in Gwen's eyes and she smiled at them before turning back with a determined look. She had only known these people for a few hours, but seeing them so willing to put their lives on the line made her happy and sad at the same time. These humans were strong in heart and mind, but the titans had them beat in physical strength. This was why she and the other shifters were here, this is what they were fighting for. They would even the playing fields for the humans, and finally get them the redemption and freedom they deserved. She understood Eren's passion now, why he let Atlas Corp restrain and tame him, why he worked so hard to train all of them despite their declining sanity and resistance. They needed to get strong for the sake of humanity. She didn't truly understand that until now.

"Jean, you take half of them to the left, Mikasa and I will go the right with the other half," Armin instructed firmly, before turning to the others. "Take out as many as you can! But don't hurt the two around Rogue!"

Every soldier gave a deafening war cry before they split up and followed their respective leaders. Angel was impressed at how coordinated they were, but then shook her head and focused on what was in front of her.

She wasn't perfect at attacking in human form, but she couldn't afford to shift and risk exposure. If the situation became desperate, she would have no choice, but for now, she could make due with her ODM gear.

Blades flashed in the air, splashing steaming blood onto the soldiers and the houses. Gwen focused on keeping the titans out of Rogue's path, relieved when he was able to start moving again. His thundering footsteps came faster now, no doubt wanting to seal the hole before any more monsters could get through. Light and Bones continue their slaughter, being careful to avoid the humans zooming around them.

With a loud snapping sound, Bones reached up and dislodged two of his own ribs, a new set growing instantly. He wielded them like swords, the edges having been sharpened while still attached to his body, and used them to efficiently slash through the titan's necks. The bone swords were a trick Hannah learned during training, mostly due to Eren's prompting. She was decent fighter but she didn't exactly have enough resourcefulness to come up with that idea on her own.

Gabriel, however, was as quick-witted as he was merciless. Throughout the entire battle, bolts of lightning would dance across his fingertips and with one touch, completely paralyze the enemy. This effect lasted long enough for him to jam his hand on their weak spot and fry them. It wasn't exactly a quick death, but it did the job.

The area was quickly cleared thanks to their joint effort. There were more coming their way, but they were too far away to do anything.

Rogue was mere meters away from the hole when two titans came out of nowhere and nearly crashed into him. Gwen prepared to attack but something shot past her and deftly slashed the titans' napes before the brunette had time to even send out her wires. The spinning figure of red and black landed on a nearby roof, revealing a blood-soaked Mikasa.

 _Wow, she's incredible,_ thought Gwen in reluctant awe. _Couldn't she have some kind of flaw!?_

The shifter shook out her negative thoughts and focused back on Rogue, eyes widening when she watched him arrive at the gate.

"DO IT, ROGUE!" Gwen screamed, her excitement bursting from her as tears streamed down her face. They were going to do it. They were going to do it!

The boulder crashed to the ground with an ear-splitting roar from Rogue. The ground shook from the impact and nearly sent Gwen off her roof. She quickly gained her footing and continued to cheer and cry. All around her soldiers celebrated with her but quickly quieted when Rogue stood and turned to face them. It was clear they were still apprehensive.

If Eren could smile in that form, Gwen was sure he would. Instead he tilted his head back and let loose a victorious roar that would have ripped the heavens and lifted the darkest of doubts. Humanity had won that day with the help of the titan shifters, and it was a day that would go down in history.

Standing on top of the inner wall, watching the miraculous scene through a telescope was one of the officers of the Garrison regiment, Kitz Weilman. Beside him were three other soldiers.

"Ian! Rico! Mitabi!" he called them to attention. "You saw that girl talking to that beast before, correct?"

"Yes sir, she appeared to be conversing with it as if it were human. We saw the whole thing from our post," the woman named Rico replied efficiently.

Weilman nodded, his face twisted in concentration.

"She also seems to have advanced training in the ODM gear but she doesn't have any insignia," Ian added.

"Bring her here for questioning, make sure she's handcuffed," the officer ordered, glaring in the direction of the plugged hole.

"But sir, shouldn't we go after the titans?" inquired Mitabi.

"You mean try to capture one of those abnormal? And how do you propose we do this? The Survey Corps are still out on their mission and probably won't return for another few hours," snapped Weilman. "Just go get her before she escapes with those titans! Go!"

The three soldiers kicked off the wall toward the other side of town. Weilman knew they would bring her, they were his most efficient soldiers. They would get answers for this phenomenon, even if it meant squeezing out every bit of information out of that girl.


	16. Chapter 14

**I do apologize for these chapters coming out so far apart, but don't worry, they may be a little late sometimes, but I will not give up! So long as you guys keep reading, I'll keep writing!**

 **Please write some reviews, I really do appreciate them and they give me the motivation to keep going.**

 **Hope you guys enjoy! 3**

 **Chapter 14: Good Deeds Never Go Unpunished**

Gwen jerked up in the uncomfortable cot, sweat dripping down her forehead and breath coming out in short pants. She could barely see in the semi-darkness but there was enough light to give her a horrifying reality.

All around her was grimy stone except for one wall which was made up of thick steel bars. Her wooden bed was the only furniture in the cell and binding her wrists to the cot were a pair of heavy, rusted chains. The air was stale and humid, filling Gwen's nose with a wet, earthy smell that made her scrunch up her face in disgust. Outside her cell were two small torches, barely able to shine any light into her cell, and standing on either side of the bars were two uniformed soldiers. On their tan jackets were patches with green unicorns. Military Police.

The girl shivered, being horribly reminded of her cell back at the facility. She didn't like it there and she sure as hell didn't like it here.

Gwen frowned and rubbed her head, which was aching quite badly. _How did I get here?_

In a flash of realization, she remembered the last few moments before she was unconscious. She remembered celebrating humanities victory from the rooftop of one of the destroyed homes while Bones, Light, and Rogue all collapsed. Around her, the soldiers were freaking out at what they thought were the deaths of the titans that had saved them, but through the massive amounts of steam covering the decaying corpses, Gwen was just able to see Eren, Hannah, and Gabriel escaping to the rooftops and returning to meet with the Gwen's abandoned team, maybe to tell them to start the clean-up.

The angelic titan had decided to use the human's distraction to escape back to her team, but she had made it only a couple rooftops when there was the distinct sound of wires whirring and she was suddenly tackled by a slight figure. When she had looked up, she was face to face with an ash-haired woman in glasses and a Garrison uniform. Gwen remembered the fierce, terrifying look on her face and had never been so afraid a human before that moment.

The young girl had tried to fight back, to escape to her titan friends, but two more soldiers had arrived to subdue her. There was so much shouting and protesting from the cadets she had helped, but their pleas fell on deaf ears. As the soldiers were hauling Gwen away, handcuffed like a criminal, she had looked up in time to see six cloaked figures hiding in the shadow of a bell tower. Gwen had almost called out to them for help, her panic over-coming her senses, but she restrained herself and simply watched them with sad, teary eyes before she dropped her gaze. She couldn't let the humans notice her friends and there was no way in hell they would be able to save her. They could transform, of course, but then all their hard work to get the humans to trust them would have been for nothing if they started attacking the soldiers, even if it was for Gwen.

In that brief glimpse of Eren's face, Gwen knew there was no help for her. She assumed they would fall back without finishing the plan, for fear of anymore of them getting captured. They would leave her to the humans and prey she lived to see them again. Gwen had never felt so alone before…

"Hey! Wake up!" snarled one of the guards, snapping Gwen out of her trance and blatantly ignoring that she was already awake. "You got company, traitor."

Gwen flinched at the tone of his voice, but focused her attention on the two men who stood in front of her cell. One was tall, blonde and muscular, with an air of authority and confidence that came with years of experience in the military. Next to him, stood a shorter man, dark hair styled in an undercut and sharp features set in a bored expression. This man struck fear into Gwen like she had never known before, like a rabbit meeting the steely gaze of a hungry wolf. Though it was obvious the blond man was in charge, her instincts were screaming at her to get away from the shorter one. He's going to kill you, they screeched, he's a monster, he's going to kill you.

"Miss, are you alright?" asked the blonde in concern.

The girl quickly swallowed her fear and looked away from the sharp-eyed man and tried to focus on what the taller one was saying. She hadn't been paying attention when he first started speaking, which is probably what prompted him to ask.

"I-I'm fine," Gwen muttered, still shaken. She had no idea who that man was, but she wished he would leave soon.

"I was asking for your name," the man asked again, pulling up a chair to sit in front of her cage. Even sitting down the blonde was taller than his companion, which would have been funny if the dark-haired man wasn't so intimidating.

"Angel. My name's Angel," Gwen admitted, refusing to give her true name. Even as a prisoner she would keep her identity to herself, not that it would mean anything to these two.

"Well, Angel, it's a pleasure to meet you. I am Commander of the Survey Corp, Erwin Smith and my companion here is Captain Levi," the blonde introduced politely.

Gwen snapped out of her scared stupor when hearing the name of these two men. These were the famed Commander and Captain of the Survey Corp? Well they certainly lived up to their expectations, just being in the same room with them was freaking out the poor girl. These men were experienced titan killers who could probably slice her down before she could even scream, no wonder her mind was telling her to run. She couldn't believe she was so lucky, because these were just the men she was supposed to speak to.

 **Flashback to the top of the wall, before the Trost mission began**

Gwen was nervous when Eren pulled her aside. She was worried he was going to tell her to stay out of the action, since she wasn't much of a fighter, but she couldn't do that when the other's would be risking their lives.

"Gwen, I need you to do something for me, something I can only trust you with," Eren began, muttering quickly. "It'll be dangerous and honestly, I'd understand if you didn't want to go through with it, but this may be our only chance to escape Atlas Corp."

Gwen nodded, excited to hear he trusted so much with something so important. "If it helps us gain freedom, I'll do anything."

Eren gave a small smile before becoming serious again. "Gwen, I need you to let the human's capture you."

The girl froze, shocked. Let herself be captured? Was that some kind of joke? No, Eren's face was dead serious. He meant it.

"B-but, what good would that do? And w-wouldn't you be punished for letting them take me?" Gwen questioned, practically in hysterics. She could just imagine what they'd do to her. Experiment on her body until she collapsed, forced her to tell them everything she knew and use her as a weapon, maybe even keep her imprisoned for the rest of her life…thinking about it, it wasn't all that different from Atlas Corp. The biggest difference was these humans wouldn't be so quick to dismiss the idea of killing her should she give them the chance.

There was also the issue of what would happen when Ms. Drake discovered she'd been taken. Sure, Eren was her favorite and would hear him out, but even Eren's reassurance wouldn't save him or the others from punishment. How could Gwen possibly think about being the cause of pain for him and her fellow subjects?

"Gwen listen, this mission could be crucial, not only for humanity, but for us as well," Eren said, placing his hands firmly on Gwen's shoulders and leaning closer to her. Sharp green met soft brown in an intense standoff. "If you're capture by the humans, you can gain their trust and convince them to come free us from Atlas Corp."

Guinevere gasped and her eyes grew wide. "B-but how do you know they won't kill me right away? What if they don't want to listen to anything I have to say?"

"They will, Gwen, trust me. If they think we could be of use to them in fighting the titans, they'll help us out. I'm much more willing to work for the military than Violet Drake," replied Eren, tone darkening with his last statement. "I doubt they'll treat us the way Atlas does so the sooner we get them involved the better. Just to be safe, I don't want you shifting on this mission. Stay in human form and they might think you're only a friend instead of fully one of us.

The girl nodded, trying to find her voice. Her mind was being overwhelmed with the idea of being captured like prey and having to only rely on her ODM gear in this fight. Eren's hands on her shoulders were also sending butterflies coursing through her stomach. She felt like a mess.

"I know it's a lot to ask of you, but I think you're the only one who can really do this and convince the humans to help."

"You didn't answer my earlier question, Eren," Gwen said softly. Eren sighed, apparently understanding what she meant.

"Don't worry about what happens to us, okay? I'm going to take full responsibility for this mission, so the other's should be safe," he explained, giving her a reassuring smile. "And I can take care of myself, even against Violet."

Gwen was going to argue that she didn't want him hurting because of her, but the guards snapped at them to get going.

"You need to choose, Gwen, now."

Feeling like she couldn't get enough air in her lungs, she nodded shakily. "I'll do it. I'll do it for you."

Gwen couldn't remember the last time she had seen Eren smile so brightly and she gave him a soft grin in return. They started off toward the wall to avoid the guards scolding.

"Now remember, when they take you away, make sure you only talk about all this to the Commander and Captain of the Survey Corp. Don't ask why, just do it," Eren said sternly. "They'll listen to what you have to say, but don't tell anyone else unless they say so, got it?"

Gwen nodded and the conversation ended as they joined the others and took off on their respect journey's.

 **End of Flashback**

Gwen stared at the two men in front of her, the Commander and Captain, the only people she was told to trust.

"You're the leaders of the Survey Corp?" Gwen asked, just to be certain she heard right. She couldn't make any mistakes now, because it might cost her the lives of herself and the others.

"Yes, that's correct," Erwin said pleasantly. "Now, you know who we are, so why don't you tell us who you are, Angel?"

Gwen froze for a moment, her gaze shifting to the guards on either side of her cell. As if reading her mind, Erwin instructed them to leave for a few moments, which they reluctantly did only after a cold glare from the Captain.

The second they were gone, Gwen scooted as close to the bars as the chains allowed, excited to fulfill Eren's request so soon. Her sudden movement startled the two men almost as much as the manic grin on her face. Levi was started to have serious doubts about this girl.

"He said I could only talk to you two, no one else," Gwen said fervently, eyes shining with urgency. She had to tell them everything before the guards returned. "He said you were the only ones who could help us."

"He? He who? And what's this about helping you?" Erwin replied, slightly perplexed.

"Rogue! Rogue, our leader, the leader of the shifters! He told me that I could only talk to you and no one else. He said you would believe me, and-and you would help us!" Gwen started ranting frantically at the two men. They shared an incredulous look between each other.

"Hold on, hold on, Angel, slow down. You're not making any sense," interrupted Erwin. "This Rogue person, why did he say you could only trust us?"

"He said you would help because we were fighting for the same cause," said Gwen, losing her mania, tears forming around her eyes. "Rogue told me you would understand and that I had to trust you. There's a lot more I have to say but…"

Gwen's eyes roved over the door, worried those guards would be listening in. She had already said too much in such an unsafe place and she couldn't risk saying much more.

"And this Rogue, was he one of the titan's in Trost?" Erwin asked, trying to restrain his excitement.

"Y-Yes," Angel answered hesitantly. "He was the one who plugged the wall with that boulder."

The two officers shared an impressed look, well Erwin did, Levi simply kept a blank face.

"Do you know where we could find him? And the rest of those titans?"

"Yes but…" Her gaze swept over where the guards had disappeared to again. "Please, I can't say too much here, if the wrong person hears…"

"I take it you don't trust people too much, do you?" Erwin asked, head tilted.

Gwen looked at her sheets. "It's not everyone, just certain people, but I think I've got plenty of reason not to trust them."

Again, they shared a look which Gwen didn't see.

"But you trust us, correct?"

Gwen lifted her head. "Not really, but I trust Rogue, and Rogue trusts you, so that's enough for me."

"You're very loyal to this man, aren't you?" asked Levi, surprising the girl.

Angel nodded. "I would do anything for him."

Levi snorted, but Erwin seemed to take her words into consideration before replying.

"You said before you needed help, that you all needed help and we were the only ones you would turn to. What help are you needing from us? Maybe we can come to some kind of agreement," Erwin prodded.

"We just…want to be free," Gwen said, sadly. "That's all we've ever wanted. We've been trapped for so many years in that awful place."

Gwen paused to shuttered in revulsion, remembering the cold stone walls and the horrifying treatment. Even monsters didn't deserve a thing like that.

"What place?"

Gwen started shaking her head. She couldn't talk about it, not here. "Please, can you help us? Can you free us?"

She could feel the desperate tears in her eyes. These people had to help her, they just had too! She had done so much, gone too far, only to find out these people couldn't do it.

There was concern in the commander's eyes, even Levi was looking slightly torn, but only slightly.

"If we do help you, if we try to free your friends, will you help humanity? Will you join the Survey Corp and help us defeat the titans?" Erwin asked, ice blue eyes locked on hers.

Gwen blinked, practically hearing Eren talk about his dreams to join the Survey Corp and defeat titans. It was almost funny to hear his dream word from word from the Commander's mouth.

"Yes, we'll help you, if you help us, deal?" Gwen said, trying to restrain herself.

She couldn't be certain, but she thought she heard Levi snort again in amusement, though she couldn't figure out what was so funny.

Erwin smiled brilliantly. "Excellent, now all we have to do is get pass the trial and we'll make you an honorary member of the Survey Corp."

There was a flood of relief at those words, but it was quickly replaced with shock.

"Trial?!"


	17. Chapter 15

**Yes, I am aware how late this is, and I'm terribly sorry, but now with school over, I can actually focus on my writing! Don't worry, I've already written out the next two chapters, so the wait won't be anywhere near as long as between them. That doesn't mean I'll post them back to back however! The next one will be posted one week from now, so you can wait till then!**

 **I really want to thank all my patient followers who've stayed with me this far and given me so much support! Those reviews really brighten my day and give me even more motivation for the story so I wanted to say how much I appreciate you all! ^.^**

 **Also, for the guest asking about Marco, I suppose I could keep him alive, since the events of Trost were changed so much and keeping him alive wouldn't change my story.**

 **Hope everyone enjoys! Thank you all for your support! 3**

 **Chapter 15: The Trial**

The sound of heavy footsteps echoed down the dimly lit, stone corridor. A single figure quickly strode down the empty hall, before stopping at the only door in sight. It was a large, heavy wood door, with impressively carved intricate designs. This hallway was restricted to only a certain few but the figure was always welcomed, according to the woman behind that door.

With a deep breath and a shaking hand, the door was opened and the figure walked into a cozy office. The room wasn't large but it made up for space with lavishness. The walls were a warm cinnamon brown and a plush, deep red rug was unfurled across the floor, covering much of the dark chocolate wood. Elaborate lamps were set up around the room to give off a comforting glow while still giving plenty of light. Massive bookshelves lined the back wall and paintings of landscapes, strange animals, and war covered the rest of the interior. The centerpiece of the room was a sturdy, mahogany desk, neatly organized with papers and writing utensils. Sitting behind that desk was an equally lavish woman in an emerald silk dress, hair in elegant waves and face painted to perfection. She was the person the figure was anxious to meet with.

"Sit down, Rogue, don't be a stranger now," Violet purred, indicating the stiff-backed chair in front of her desk.

Eren sighed and lowered his hood, having kept his cloak on after their successful mission in Trost. It made him feel secure when he thought she couldn't see him. He took his seat and glanced at the paintings on the walls. They had always intrigued him whenever he came to speak with Violet. Judging by the unfamiliar scenery and creatures, Eren surmised they were illegal paintings of the outside world, maybe from a hundred years ago.

Violet leaned over the desk, her head resting on her folded fingers and her eyes gleaming with excitement. "Tell me, dear, how was the mission? Were you successful?"

Eren smirked smugly on the outside, but inside his stomach was roiling. He hated acting so friendly with her, but that was how he'd gained her trust over the years, something he greatly valued. If he had to act to keep himself and the others safe, then he'd be the best damn actor inside the walls.

"It was almost too easy actually, it was hardly any fun," he replied with an exaggerated hum of disappointment. "And here I thought I'd be able to let loose and enjoy some titan slaughtering."

Violet giggled like a little girl at this. "Oh, I'm sure there will plenty of opportunities for you to have some fun in the future. But tell me now, how was your team? Did they perform adequately?"

Eren froze at this, teal eyes hardening with caution but his smile still in place. He had to be careful how he went about this, for fear of his friends being punished. He already knew there would be great danger when everything was explained, but he hoped to leave them out of it.

"My team did as they were told without hesitation and preformed to my standards," said Eren professionally. Violet relaxed, knowing how efficiently Eren trained the other shifters. This was why he was chosen to lead them and eventually became the woman's favorite. The boy's next words, however, caused her to pause. "But we did hit a slight…problem."

Violet raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow. "Problem?"

Eren swallowed and nodded. This was where things got tricky.

"Yes, you see, we were intercepted by a group of Garrison soldiers on our way back. They didn't see us shift or come out of our titans, but…they managed to capture Angel. I instructed her stay in her human form to better assist with injuries. She isn't much of a fighter, as you know."

The woman's face darkened considerably. Her eyes glowed with dissatisfaction. "So, you managed to lose one of your siblings to those drunken wall-repairmen?"

Eren was incredibly tense at this point, sensing Violet's anger. This also wasn't the first time Drake had referred to them as siblings, because in her twisted mind, they were all a weird, disjointed family, though she was far from a loving mother and many of the brothers and sister's wanted to kill each other.

"Yes, and I take full responsibility for it. I was the one who decided Angel should stay in her human form instead of shifting. We did what we could to get her back, but we couldn't do much without exposing ourselves. I will accept this failure fully."

Violet set back in her seat, watching him intensely, before standing up and making her way around the desk to stand behind his chair. The boy tensed even more, like a spring about to snap.

"I must admit, I'm quite disappointed with you, Rogue," she sighed, reaching her claw-like fingers to squeeze his shoulders a bit too roughly. "I expected so much more from you, but maybe you weren't ready for a mission like this?"

Eren kept his eyes forward, trying to keep a strong front.

"I apologize, Violet," he replied, stiffly.

"Oh, I know you are, and you will receive appropriate punishment for your failure." Eren flinched at the coldness in her voice. "And afterward, we are going to get our little Angel back."

"H-huh?" Eren stuttered, not anticipating something like that. Honestly, he just assumed she would leave Gwen to the wolves, it seemed like her nature, but maybe he was wrong.

"We'll have to bring her back, of course, I've spent far too much money on her to simply let her become a human toy," Violet said haughtily, Eren held back his derisive snort at her ironic statement. "She will be punished severely for allowing herself to be caught but at least she will be under our control again."

Rogue grit his teeth in malice, but made sure to keep his face blank. Oh, how he wished he could strangle this woman. Of course, she didn't care about Gwen, why would she start now? All she cared about were her plans.

He was so caught up in his thoughts he was surprised to find Violet behind her desk once more, taking her seat and staring thoughtfully at her treasured little puppet.

"This actually works out quite well for us, Rogue," she said, the gears already turning in her head. "I was planning on getting the military involved eventually. After all, our plan won't work without their trust, hm? I suppose this is a wonderful opportunity to take our shifter back and form an agreement with those barbarians in the government."

Our plan? Since when was Eren involved with planning anything? He was merely a pawn in her little game of wits and war and though he had been informed of a few details he was nowhere near on the same level as Violet. He didn't really care though so long as the others were safe and he had plenty of chances to destroy the monsters outside the wall.

That was the other vice Violet had on him, his obsession with the titans. It had not diminished an ounce since his training days, if anything it had grown to unhealthy proportions while inside the facility. Any time Violet gave an offhanded remark about letting Eren outside to take on a few monsters he practically salivated with excitement and vengeance. She promised him if he and the other behaved, he could kill as many of the bastards as he wanted and that drove him insane but it kept him in line. He would do as she said, even if he hated it and her.

"What do you plan to do to get her back exactly?" Rogue asked, clenching his fist under his cloak to keep his rage in check.

"Well, knowing those old dogs there will be a trial held. Probably to decide whether to kill her or not," said Violet, thoughtfully. "I think crashing that little party might be our best bet. I'll have to have you and maybe Light come along as well."

Eren nodded, thrilled to be going outside again but dreading having to escort Violet.

The door opened then and two guards came through, watching Eren with grave eyes. Why were they here? Did Violet somehow magically call them?

"I'm afraid this will all have to wait until tomorrow, Rogue," she sighed, almost regretfully. "I'll gather some information about Angel's trial but I believe it's time for your punishment."

Oh, right, he'd almost forgotten about that.

The guards waited for him as he stood and made his way out the door before silently following behind. They hadn't felt the need to restrain him for quite a while now, he wouldn't struggle anyway.

"What does she plan for me then?" Eren asked them.

"You'll see, boy. Seems she's got a new form of torture for ya," chuckled one of the guards. Eren's frown grew in distaste. These men were all so annoying at times.

They led him to the testing hallway and through one of the doors, where two more guards were waiting with someone Eren did not expect to see.

"Light? What are you doing here?" he asked, confusedly. The look on Gabriel's face gave him the fear that he was here to be punished as well.

"Sit boy, you'll find out soon enough," one of the guards growled, nodding toward the single chair in the middle of the room. This definitely confused the brunette, but Eren did as he was told and took a seat in the uncomfortable metal chair. His arms and legs were quickly strapped down before all the guards stepped away, two of them leaving to stand outside. Eren frowned and turned back to look at Gabriel.

Shaking uncontrollably, the Lightning Titan stepped up to the back of Eren's chair and he was strangely reminded of the scene in Violet's office less than a few minutes ago. The boy lifted his trembling hands to his leader, who was still trying to understand why Gabriel was involved and why he looked so remorseful and scared. The young man placed his fingertips at Eren's temple and then went still.

"Please forgive me, Eren," he heard Gabriel whisper in a choked voice.

Rogue was pondering the reason for his friend's words. Forgive him? What had he ever done that deserved forgiving?

All his thoughts were suddenly put on hold when pain ripped through his temples and down his body. His eyes rolled back into his head and his jaw locked shut, refusing to let any of his agonized screams out. Twitches and spams rocked through his body and saliva foamed between his lips.

Even in his paralyzed state, Eren understood Gabriel's guilt and anguish. There was a reason he was named the Lightning Titan and now Eren was experiencing his electricity in full force. The metal chair only added to the pain, absorbing the sparks and then sending them back into his body. The entire time, Gabriel sobbed his apologies but Eren would never blame him because this as much a punishment for Light as it was for him. The only one to blame was Violet and her sadistic ways.

As if it were humanly possible, Eren's hatred grew and festered inside him. Oh, she would pay someday, that he could promise.

* * *

They didn't tell her much as Gwen was lead to the courtroom, though it wasn't like her escorts weren't talking. In fact, the one brown-haired woman hadn't stop talking since they left the dungeon. She was cheerfully chattering about her excitement for the trial and over what happened in Trost. Gwen actually liked this strange woman, Hange. She had a good energy about her.

The other one, however, was giving her the creeps. At one point, he had even bent down to sniff at her shoulder, which she did not appreciate.

"Okay, here we are!" Hange exclaimed, stopping outside a large set of double doors. Suddenly all her nerves came crashing back to her and she was completely frozen.

"W-what do I say in there?" she asked, scared out of her wits.

"Oh, just be yourself, I'm sure everything will work out!" Hange insisted. That didn't help Gwen in the slightest. "Sadly, we can't come in, but don't worry we'll still be watching from a distance."

"But, wait, wha—"

"Nope, no time! Good luck!" Before she could protest more, Gwen was shoved into the courtroom and the doors were closed behind her.

Without a word, two guards took hold of her chained arms and lead her to a metal pole in the room. She was forced to kneel and a metal pole was placed between her shackles, effectively trapping her in the center of the room. All around her, beady and judgmental eyes watched her every move. On one side stood the Commander of the Military Police along with several of his soldiers and a man in a religious robe. On the other side was Commander Erwin and Captain Levi with a few of their soldiers, two of which Gwen recognized from the mission, Armin and Mikasa. Why were they there? Standing next to Erwin was a bald man Gwen had never seen before, but from his uniform and stance, he looked like another official.

At the head of the room, directly in front of Gwen, sat an older man in a heavily decorated uniform. He had to be General Zackly, the man who held Gwen's fate in the palm of his hand.

"Let's start this, shall we?" he muttered, slipping on a pair of circular spectacles and looking over a set of papers in his hand. Everyone in the room was tense despite his relaxed demeanor.

"This certainly is a strange case, isn't it? So, let me get this straight, Miss…" He paused to look at the papers. "Angel, you appeared during the titan invasion of Trost, alongside several Abnormal titans, and attempted to help with the retake of the city, correct?"

"Yes sir," Gwen agreed solemnly, as if she were being scolded by a parent.

"And your apparent intentions were to aid the injured soldiers and assist these Abnormal titans in blocking the gate?"

Gwen nodded, but when someone snapped at her to speak, she squeaked out a yes. She hated being yelled at and her anxiety was only growing in the massive room.

"Blasphemy! What you and those atrocities have committed is utter blasphemy!" ranted the robed man furiously. "Those sacred walls should not have been befouled in such a way!"

He was quickly shushed by the General, who was not pleased by the interruption. Gwen couldn't help but grumbled angrily to herself. What should they have done? Let the titans continue running rampant in the city?

"There also seems to be little information about you. It's almost as if you don't exist within these walls," the General hummed thoughtfully before looking directly at her. "Or you aren't telling us the entire truth about your identity."

There was an unamused snort from Gwen's right and she assumed it was from one of the Military Police, but it went unnoticed.

"Regardless, the full decision of your fate shall lie with me, considering the oddness of this case. Before I hear the arguments on your future custody arrangement, I have one question for you girl," said Zackly, staring down at her with fathomless eyes.

"Are you human or titan?"

Gwen froze at the question. Since her time here, she had not been directly asked that question, not even by Commander Erwin. How could answer that without ruining her chances of freedom?

"I am…both, sir," she answered solidly.

"Both?" repeated Zackly, silver eyebrows raised.

Gwen nodded, "You see I'm—"

 _SLAM_

The doors to the courtroom flew open and everyone jumped and turned their attention on the unexpected newcomers.

Striding into the room was Gwen's worst nightmare. Fear like nothing she had felt before shot through her body and in her uncontrolled state of terror, she let out a terrified whimper and started yanking at the chains holding her wrists to the pole. She had to leave, she had to _escape_.

There, leisurely walking up the aisle between the spectators, was her tormentor and warden, Violet Drake.


	18. Chapter 16

**I'm truly sorry this is going out later than I promised, but my computer crashed and I had to take it to get fixed and only just got it back today. But enough of my excuses, on to the story!**

 **Chapter 16: A Turn of Events**

Drake strode into the room in an expensive but simple blue dress and her usual haughty expression on her face. Her long, dark hair hung down around her shoulders in shiny, hazelnut waves and while she radiated indifferent confidence, her violet eyes were laced with reserved anger. Gwen hoped to whatever god that would listen that Drake's ire wasn't directed at her.

She was so scared of Drake, Gwen nearly missed the two cloaked figures standing on either side but slightly behind her. They walked quietly, almost ghosting across the floor as if they didn't want to attract attention away from the woman leading them. Though she couldn't see their faces, she knew it had to be Eren and Gabriel. They were the only shifters besides her, stable enough to restrain themselves in a large group of people. She shuddered to think what would happen if Riah or Sophia had come along.

The unannounced group sauntered to the middle of the room. Violet stood in front of Gwen, as if protecting her, but the girl could only shrink away from her and tremble uncontrollably, her mind running through the punishments she might receive. The two figures stopped next to Gwen, so close she could feel the fabric of their cloaks brushing against her arms. She jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder, but then relaxed when she realized it was Eren, trying to soothe her fear.

She looked up into the hood of his cloak, hoping to see a glimpse of his face for comfort, but she was horrified to see him so withdrawn. His skin was an unhealthy ashy color, his eyes were as hard as emeralds, and was it just her or had the white section of his hair grown further over his head?

Gwen knew that look, and she shuddered to think of the torture Drake had put him through. Guilt flooded through her as she realized his harsh treatment was her fault, but Eren squeezed her shoulder, expressing that he didn't hold anything against her.

"And just who are you and why have you interrupted this important trial?" commanded Zackly. The Military Police were close to jumping the barrier and forcing the group away but they were held back by their commander.

"I am Violet Drake and I am here because you have confiscated someone that belongs to me and appear to be selling her off to the highest bidder," Drake said, professionally with a bit of chill to her voice. "You say there will be arguments over who is entitled to custody of my sweet Angel, and yet you have no right to enforce such a custody, when she rightfully belongs to me."

A roar of whispers erupted around the room, many of them shocked and distressed. Erwin frowned at this strange new development but chose to remain silent and see where it goes.

It took several loud bangs of the General's hand on his desk to silence the crowd.

"Would you care to explain this claim to the young girl? Is she your daughter?"

Violet smiled tenderly, but the gesture was clearly fake. "Though we are not biologically related, I see her as my child. As for the legality of our relationship, I believe this will suffice." The woman gracefully walked to the podium and handed the General several sheets of official looking papers.

Gwen glared at her. How dare she spout such nonsense. When had she ever considered Gwen or any of them as her children? As far as she knew, Eren was the only one Violet truly liked and the rest were just there as foot soldiers.

Next to her, Rogue stiffened and Gwen knew he was just as angry as she was.

While the General looked over the papers with cautious eyes, Gwen scoped out the rest of the courtroom and saw many of them watching the two cloaked figures next to her with intense distrust. After all, they were refusing to reveal themselves and they were somehow associated with Gwen. She saw Erwin and Levi having a whispered conversation, both of their faces blank but the slight crease in Erwin's forehead and the small frown on Levi's face, indicated the importance of whatever they were talking about.

When the General finished he sighed and said, "It appears this has become more complicated than I thought."

"General Zackly, if I may," Drake blatantly interrupted. All eyes focused back on her. "Due to the sensitivity of this matter, I ask that you make this trial a private affair and involve only those that must absolutely be here. I ask that the rest of the room leave."

Outrage sprung up around the room at the suggestion that they couldn't hear the verdict of the trial, but they were hushed again by Zackly.

"I have to agree with you on this matter, Ms. Drake," he said reluctantly. "I must request that only the commanders of the regiments remain in this courtroom. Everyone else must leave."

There was a great uproar of protest but the Military Police were quick with their evacuation of the spectators and most of the soldiers. Some tried to resist or sneak back through the guards but eventually they were thrown out as well. As Levi was about to leave as well, Zackly stopped him.

"You may stay, Captain, considering your rank."

Levi nodded and remained where he was, ignoring the stare he was receiving from one of the cloaked figures.

When the room was completely emptied, the only ones left were the three commanders, Captain Levi, the General and the four in the center of the room. Gwen found the room eerie now.

"You have your privacy now, Drake," grunted the General. "I suggest you start explaining yourself and your strange companions."

"Gladly," Violet said, smirking. "As you read on those paper, Angel here officially belongs to me. She is a subject in my company's experimental project and you have no right to decide her fate. She belongs to Atlas Corp."

There was a shocked silence in the room at the mention of that name.

"Atlas Corp.? But that organization was shut down years ago! It shouldn't be in operation!" Niles Dawk screeched angrily.

"I'm afraid that's not entirely true," answered Drake, smugly. "You see, Atlas Corp. was only publicly shut down, but we still continue to operate, with or without government funding. Isn't that right, Zackly?"

At the mention of funding, Violet's smirk seemed to transform into a snarl that sent a chill down Gwen's spine.

The rest of the room silently watched the General, as he sighed and said, "I afraid that is the case, Dawk. I have been aware of Atlas Corp. and its underground activities, but this project you mention. I have no memory of it from my reports."

Drake only smiled at Zackly's suspicious glare. "Yes, we decided to keep this project a secret due to the dangerous nature of it. We've kept it under wraps until we were certain the project would end in success or failure, and I can happily report that it has been deemed a success and we are fully prepared to cooperate with the military."

"And what exactly is this project?" Erwin asked, finally speaking up.

Violet turned to him and gave a sickly-sweet smile. "I'm glad you asked. You see, this project began over a decade ago and over the years, we've done painstaking research and trials until we finally succeeded. Our end objectives are taking back Wall Maria and ensuring the safety and victory of human. We intend to do this utilizing our greatest enemy and our greatest weapon: Titans."

The entire room froze. The officials paused in utter shock, Dawk had his mouth hanging open, while the three shifters were paralyzed with worry, wondering how this was going to play out. Even Levi was stunned enough to show emotion, with his eyebrows raised. Violet was the only one relaxed and grinning in the center of the room.

"What do you mean, utilizing Titans?" asked Erwin slowly, as if he might have heard her wrong.

"I mean as I said, we created a way to make intelligent Titans to use as soldiers in this war," Violet further explained before she turned back to the two standing next to Gwen. They both lowered their hoods simultaneously, their faces blank and bored. "You see these young men with me? They are two of our most successful subject, along with miss Angel here. I'd like to introduce you to Rogue and Lightning."

The two boys held their hardened gazes on the men in the room. They feared one of them would snap and order the guards to come back in and take care of them. It didn't surprise anyone when Dawk tried to make a run for the door only to be halted by the General. Next to her, Gwen heard Gabriel snicker before Eren silenced him with a look.

"Get back here and listen to what they have to say," Zackly snapped, trying to take control of the situation, but it was obvious he was just as uncomfortable with the revelation. "If they had any intentions to attack us, they would have done it by now."

The commander of the Military Police gritted his teeth, staring at the door for a moment before stiffly marching back to his place. Violet's smile widened, if that were even possible.

"Thank you for hearing us out on this, General, I appreciate it," she said. "But as I was saying, these two young men are a part of our project and they have already proven their worth with the retaking of Trost."

"So, that was you, then?" came a highly amused voice. Gwen was surprised to hear the bald man, the Commander of the Garrison Regiment she concluded, finally contributing to the conversation. She just assumed he would act as spectator throughout this whole thing. "How ironic that the titans would be _saving_ humans."

"I know it's quite hard to believe, Commander Pixis, but that is what happened," Violet said, politely. "In fact, Rogue here was the titan that blocked the hole in the wall."

Brows raised and eyes swiveled to stare at Eren, who stood there expressionless. This silent, dull-eyed version of her closest companion was unsettling to say the least and it showed when Dawk and Zackly both shivered. The bald man was too busy drinking out of a metal flask to notice the scene and Gwen doubted anything would really faze the Commander and Captain of the Survey Corp.

"Hm, yes well," Zackly stuttered uncomfortably adverting his gaze to his desk. Gwen didn't blame the poor man, if only he knew how scary Eren could really get. "This project of yours should have been verified first, Ms. Drake, something as incredibly dangerous as _creating_ Titan's is no simple matter. How are we certain these… _subjects_ can be trusted to protect humanity? Are they truly under control?"

"Oh, I can assure you, my children are trained and obedient. They'll be the keys to changing mankind's future," Drake declared boldly. "And I'm more than willing to join forces with the military in order to achieve such future."

"Hm, I'm sure you are, Drake," the General muttered, rubbing his forehead, clearly, he hadn't seen this trial becoming so complex. "Very well, I'll will let your secret-keeping slide for now, considering our situation, but you are too _fully_ cooperate with the commanders of the regiments, especially the Survey Corp."

"Sir, does this mean we will be taking lead on this new development?" Erwin questioned.

"What?! General, surely you aren't buying into this, are you?!" exclaimed Dawk, horrified. "These people have committed an unholy number of violations! Not to mention the possible devastation that could come from trying to train beasts!"

Next to her, Eren let out a furious growl, freezing everyone in the room with his malicious sound. Violet turned to him, effectively silencing him, but the room remained tensed.

"I'll ask you not to insult my children, Commander Dawk," Violet said sternly. "They are well controlled but Rogue here is quite protective of the other's so in the better interest of everyone, I suggest you keep your mouth shut."

Dawk started making a choking noise that seemed to amuse Eren and Gabriel, and a glance across the room proved Levi was just as pleased if his small smile was anything to go by.

"That's enough, Niles. I've made my decision in this matter," Zackly announced. "I will allow you take this girl with you, Drake, but you must allow the commanders, and anyone they deem necessary, access to your research, in return."

"That is reasonable, General, and as I have said before, I am more than happy to share my findings as well as my subjects," Violet said sweetly.

After hearing the verdict, Eren and Gabriel were quick to lift the pole holding Gwen down and help her to her feet. They noticed Dawk watching them closely but they ignore it.

"Are you alright?" Eren whispered loud enough for only the three of them to hear. When Gwen nodded, he let out a relieved sigh.

"I believe this meeting is over then, yes?" Drake asked, already turning around. "I will send each of the commanders a formal invitation to my compound within the week, but for now I would like to get my child back where she belongs and ensure that she is unharmed."

 _Not to mention destroy anything you don't want them to see,_ Gwen thought irritably. She didn't think for one second that Drake gave a damn about her wellbeing.

"We will hold you to that, Ms. Drake. And should you decide to _forget_ I will not hesitate to issue a warrant for your arrest," Zackly announced sternly.

Violet nodded, acknowledging the threat, before taking her leave, with the three shifters following her, Eren and Gabriel having already lifting their hoods and Gwen situated between them protectively.

As the doors swung open, silence fell over the hallway. Every person that had been in that courtroom were standing there, some trying to listen into the conversation despite the doors being too thick, while others simply gossiped amongst each other. When they saw Gwen being escorted away by these strangers, they flew into an uproar.

"You're just going to let her go?!"

"What's the general thinking, letting that girl loose?!"

"And who the hell are you anyway! Maybe their titans too!"

The guards struggled to calm the crowd before a booming voice sounded from behind Violet's group.

"That is ENOUGH!"

At the sound of General Zackly's command, the crowded hall fell silent. Behind the General, stood the commanders and Captain Levi, watching the scene with varying degrees of disbelief and irritation, or in Pixis' case, drunken amusement.

"Soldiers! Make a path for this group to leave," snapped Niles, surprising his colleagues and his men. They did as instructed none-the-less and started shoving people away from the middle of the hall, some citizens actually getting pushed into open doorways, to allow the odd group of people to pass.

The shifters kept their heads down submissively, trying to show they weren't a threat and keep their faces away from the public eye. Violet, however, lifted her head high, enjoying the attention far more than her subordinates.

Eventually, they made it through to the streets and, ignoring the shouted questions and aggressive comments, the four of them entered the waiting carriage and set off down the road, leaving the higher officials to handle the mob quickly forming.

"What do you think about all this?" Levi muttered to his superior as they both watched the carriage leave.

"I think we should keep a close eye on that Drake woman, I don't quite trust her motives," replied Erwin.

"Agreed," said the Captain. He then looked at Erwin for the corner of his vision. "And that boy, Rogue? I assume he's the same one who insisted Angel only speak to us?"

"Not only that, but he essentially instigated this entire thing," Erwin added, pensively, as they waited for their own carriage to arrive. "He's the one who instructed Angel to be captured in the first place and I highly doubt Drake knew this. He may appear to be a simple tool for her, nothing more than a pawn, but I think he had his own plans. This could be beneficial or detrimental to us, I haven't figured out which."

"So we wait and watch, then," Levi sighed, irritated by the strange day. "I take it this stays between us?"

Erwin smiled and entered the carriage that stopped in front of them, ready to take them back to headquarters.

"You could just answer the damn question, like a normal person," Levi grumbled to himself as he climbed into the carriage and it took off, leaving the mob of angry citizens behind them.


	19. Chapter 17

The carriage bumped along the dirt road, making the ride from the Survey Corp Headquarters to the mysterious Atlas Corp. facility all the more uncomfortable. Sitting inside was Commander Erwin and Captain Levi on one side, and Squad Leaders Hange and Mike on the other.

Hange was the only one chattering away excitedly, but that was only to be expected. After all, it wasn't every day the scientific woman got to meet a whole horde of experimental titan shifters. She wanted to learn everything about this research and was just itching to get her hands on it. Mike and Erwin would reply to her every now and again, just to pass the time, but Levi vehemently refused to involve himself in the irritating monologue Hange was spewing out of her mouth. Instead he watched outside the window and scowled at the trees and plant life.

It wasn't until the Captain spotted something up ahead that he finally spoke.

"If that's where we're heading, I'm turning this carriage around now," Levi growled, earning the attention of the others, who all eagerly leaned over to stare at the building coming up beside them.

"Well, they did say they were performing this experiments in secrecy. I could understand why they would chose such an inconspicuous location for them," Erwin admitted.

"More like _disgusting_ ," Levi grumbled under his breath, glaring at the overgrown ivy and cracks in the rough concrete building.

When the carriage finally stopped, the group of officials got out and noticed the other carriages parked nearby. Seems they were the last ones to the party, judging by the Garrison and Military Police insignias on the doors.

"Oh, don't be such a downer today, Levi! We're getting the opportunity of a life-time!" squealed the brunette happily, but the Captain continued to growl about the state of the place.

When they reached the steel door, it swung open and revealed two men in unfamiliar matching uniforms and identical blank expressions. They stepped aside and allowed the Survey Corp group to enter the compound.

Niles and two of his subordinates along with Pixis and his assistants were already there, as they suspected. They seemed to be having a conversation while their soldiers stood idly by, looking very nervous.

Erwin's group joined them and the commanders ended their talk and turned to the newcomers.

"Ah, Erwin, good to see you've finally arrived!" cheered Pixis, cheeks tinted red. "Now, we're only waiting on that woman."

"What took you so long anyway? Doubt the traffic was rough," Niles asked, snidely, seems someone was still bitter about being left with a mob of angry townsfolk.

The blonde merely shrugged, choosing to ignore Dawk's hostile attitude. "Left a bit later than expected, but we're here, aren't we? And considering our host hasn't arrived, we aren't technically late."

Nile's grumbled but didn't reply. Suddenly the door to the right of the room opened and the woman of the hour stepped through, flanked on her left by a stoic Rogue. At the sight of the titan shifter, the subordinates stepped back, weary of the stories they'd heard about the boy, but the officers didn't even bat an eye.

"Oh, how lovely, you've all arrived!" Violet exclaimed in faux excitement.

"Hello, Ms. Drake, and how are you this fine morning?" Pixis asked politely.

Violet grinned at the old man. "I'm just wonderful, thank you for asking. Now, I'm sure you're all anxious to get this little tour started, so if you would just follow me through this door, I'll show you our research laboratory."

Hange was practically jumping at this, but the others only sighed. They had been hoping to see the other titans first.

As the group was passing through the doorway, Erwin spared a glanced at the boy, who was silently crossing the room to another door, but before he slipped through he shot a look back as well, catching Erwin's gaze. The look on the boy's face was impassive but Erwin thought he saw a flash of emotion that suspiciously looked like hope. The look and the boy were gone in a matter of seconds, leaving the commander to ponder the interaction.

"Ms. Drake, where was Rogue going?" the blonde asked as they entered a long corridor and began walking. The windows to the rooms had been blacked out, preventing anyone seeing inside.

"Oh, he's going back down to the training area with the rest of the shifters. I had a conversation with him this morning, which was the only reason he was on the ground level at all," Violet explained off-handedly.

"And you just let them roam freely around the facility?" asked Niles incredulously.

Violet simply laughed at that. "No, no, Rogue is the only one allowed on this level by himself, and even then, we still have guards stationed in case anything were to happen. But Rogue has proven his trustworthiness more than once, so he has earned some freedom."

Erwin didn't like the sound of that, and judging from his colleagues faces neither did they, though probably for different reasons. The fact that these shifters had to _earn_ their freedom, made them seem like criminals and it didn't give the Survey Corp officials a good feeling.

For now, they had to play along and listen to whatever Violet was explaining if they wanted to get anywhere. They get their answers eventually.

* * *

Walking down the steps toward the lower levels, Eren thought over how this turn of events would affect his plan.

He hadn't accounted for Violet wanting to take Gwen back. After all, she had proven more than once that she held no sympathy for the shifters, even in Eren's case. How was he to know she would find a way to take Gwen out of the military's custody? How could he have accounted for the military just _handing her over_? He had considered every possible outcome, even Gwen's possible execution, but this one seemed so unlikely he'd let it slip past him. That was his biggest mistake.

Eren groaned in frustration and stopped on the stairwell, thankful the guards no longer felt the need to follow him everywhere. He clutched his white hair and ground his teeth in irritation. This was not how this was supposed to play out.

 _If Armin were here, he would have thought of such a better plan and actually accounted for everything_ , Eren thought bitterly to himself. The dull ache in his chest flaring up again at the thought of his old friend.

The boy shook his head and jerked straight. No, this wasn't the time to wallow in old memories or berate himself for his mistake. He had to come up with another plan and _fast_. Originally, he had hoped to use Gwen to convince the Survey Corp into raiding the compound and freeing the shifters, or at least make enough of a distraction for them to escape during the chaos. If they could have gotten to the upper levels, they could have shifted and ran for freedom with the guards too distracted by the soldiers. They all had better control over their transformation so it would have been easy. Maybe that's where his plans fell apart. It was _too_ easy for them escape if everything had gone right. And that's where his flaw resided.

Letting out a sigh, he continued toward his destination. When he reached the bottom, he turned and swiftly opened the door the training cavern, putting his blank face on. All the other shifters were there, doing more playing than fighting, even Mathias was there, chained to the wall, and watching them predatorily.

When Eren descended the stairs, he was greeted by a fist flying into his face and the maniacal cackling coming from its source. With little change in expression, Eren dodged the punch and countered it, sending the attacker flying off to the side.

A growl ripped up Riah's throat as she crouched on the ground, slit-pupil eyes flashing with madness and sharp teeth exposed as she smiled widely at him. Her long, fleshy tail whipped around behind her in excitement.

"Look, our great leader has returned from the almighty bitch! How was the chat, Rogue? How is our wonderfully benevolent queen, hm?" she giggled hysterically, head tilting to the side and ears twitching.

Eren rolled his eyes, too use to Riah's nonsense to care. Instead, he turned to the rest of them, who all stood by, watching the scene with varying expressions of anxiety, indifference or calm ignorance.

"The commanders of the three military branches are here," Eren stated. He saw the only sane shifters exchanging looks, while the others either weren't listening or didn't care about the news. Normally, this wouldn't phase the boy but today was not a day for anything to be goofing off.

"PAY ATTENTION!" he snapped, his commanding voice echoing in the cavernous room and freezing all the shifters into shocked attention. A shiver traveled down each of their spines as they were forced to obey, even Riah jolted to her feet and Mathias cowered in his corner, eyes locked on Eren.

The boy huffed in annoyance but continued, "This is a very crucial day, do you all understand that? This could be our chance to leave this damn place, but if you don't do as I say, they might just kill us off."

"T-They wouldn't do that, w-would they?" Gwen stammered, nervously. "I mean, Ms. Drake went to all the trouble to get me back, s-so she won't let them kill us right?"

"I don't know, Gwen, but I think if she was forced to by the military, she'd kill us off and start over," said Eren, bluntly. "The most it would be for her is an inconvenience."

A growl started in the dark corner and Eren looked over at Mathias, who was snarling at the topic of conversation. The insane boy may not participate in the talk, but he could still understand what they were saying.

A sudden hiss sounded from the shadows and Piers materialized out of the blackness, pale face etched with pain while thin tentacles of darkness attempted to swat at his ankle. Attached to his leg was tiny Sophia gnawing at his skin.

"Will sssssomeone, get this disssgusting creature off me?" Piers hissed out, his cold speech resembling that of a snake. He tried to shake off the offending parasite, but the girl latched on harder and bit deeper into his flesh, sending a volley of steam into the air.

Lily sighed and marched over to grab Sophia around the torso. The blonde quickly yanked her off and tossed her to the side where the cannibal started chewing at the bit of flesh she'd managed to tear off the boy. Piers growled at her and bent to check his wound.

"There, happy?" snapped Lily, before turning to Gwen. "You should watch that beast more closely, Gwen, she's your sister after all. I'm sure you don't want her to end up like Mathias."

"I-I know. I'm sorry," Gwen replied, going to her sister's side to quietly scold her for her actions.

"So about this stupid visit. You want us to act like good little boys and girls for these military douchebags? Am I getting that right?" sneered Lily, arms crossed. Next to her, Dove was sat on the floor staring up at the ceiling and swaying from side to side.

"Oh! OH! I can be a good girl and boy! Hee hee!" Hannah laughed. "Get it! Get it! HA!"

"Why don't you shut up, bitch," challenged Riah, stalking toward her oldest friend, that manic look on her face again.

"You wanna go! Fight me!" Hannah retaliated, jumping to her feet and getting into the same crouched position as her friend.

"Will you two knock it off, this is serious," said Gabriel, greatly displeased.

"You're just saying that 'cause you're Rogue's little side hoe," Riah taunted, egging on the lightning shifter. One of Riah's favorite pastime was teasing the other shifters into a fight.

Gabriel simply rolled his eyes, not taking the bait.

"Enough, Mariah," Eren intervened, growing tired of her antics. "It's been decided that you, Mathias, Sophia, and Dove are to stay in your rooms until the inspection is over, understood?"

"Whaaaaaaat? I don't get to scare those little humans? Not fair, Rogue!" groaned Riah. From the darkness, Mathias growled in agreement.

"Why does Dove have to go? She's not a danger," Lily argued.

"No, but Violet doesn't want them figuring out the extent of her 'experiements'," said Eren. "That means anyone who was significantly affected, which includes your sister."

Lily growled under her breath, still very much displeased.

"Don't complain, it's Violet's orders," Eren stated, before turning to his second in command. "Gabriel, make sure everyone behaves while I take these four back to the cells. No shifting and no fighting."

At those last words, Eren locked eyes with each of them, intimidating them into understanding. Andy and Gwen were quick to look down in submission, Lily and Piers looked him dead in the eye, while Hannah was too focused on something else in the room to notice. Eren sighed and shook his head, before turning and going to unlock Mathias' chains.

"Oh and before I forget." Eren went to Gabriel's side, whispering instructions for his new plan in his ear. When he pulled away Gabriel was staring at him, conflicted but determined to follow through with what he was told.

"Come on, Riah, don't be difficult," Rogue said, guiding Mathias up the stairs, while Dove helped Sophia at a safe distance. The Razor titan wouldn't dare attack Rogue but the others were another story.

Mariah growled and rolled her eyes, before following along, staying closer to the two girls but between the two groups. She may be bat-shit crazy but there was still a protective streak in her when it came to her weaker friends. Gabriel watched them leave and worried about how this would play out. They were playing a dangerous game, but as long as Eren was confident they would escape, he would follow without question. It wasn't like he had a choice anyway.

"These notes are so detailed! And look at all this equipment! Do you know how long it would take for me to get things like this!" Hange squealed, much to the irritation of the rest of the group. The woman was flitting around the room, bothering the few scientists still working and bouncing with questions for them and for Violet, who seemed only too pleased to answer.

"Will you shut up, Four Eyes? You're giving me a headache," grumbled Levi, rubbing his temples. They had been given the tour through most of the facility and truthfully it was all dull. "As fascinating as all this is, it's not exactly the reason we're here."

"Yes, when are we going to be meeting these titan shifters you talked about," Pixis asked, politely.

"Oh, well I suppose if we're done here, we can go see them now," said their host, gliding past them and through the door to the laboratory. The rest followed, with Levi half dragging Hange away.

"Finally," muttered Niles to his subordinates. "Thought she'd never get around to it."

"I should warn you, they may be training at the moment, so they'll be a bit…preoccupied when we arrive," Violet advised, as she led them to the main room again and unlocked the opposite door.

When the group reached the stairs, and began their descent, there was suddenly a thunderous noise from the bottom and several more crashes and booms that startled the group. The only one not concerned was Violet, who only smiled.

"I did warn you," was all she said. The commanders exchanged cautious looks while their underlings shook nervously. Hange, Mike and Levi remained calm. Well as calm as Hange could be at the moment.

Violet stopped at the door, giving them one last smug look, before swinging the door open and revealing the chaos below and causing jaws to drop.

Two massive titans, both at least fifteen meters and male in proportions, were in close combat in the center of the giant training arena. One seemed normal looking, with short dark hair and eyes completely white and blank. Small jolts of white energy jumped across its muscles and occasionally pulsed from its eyes. Apart from the nakedness and the strange electricity, this titan appeared somewhat similar to a human, its opponent however, was an entirely different story.

Across the circle, watching the other titan wearily, was probably the most haunting titan any of the soldiers had ever encountered. It was completely skinless, exposing ropes of muscle and tendons, but that wasn't the most disturbing feature. What drew the eyes of the humans were the rows of exposed ribs on the monster's chest as well as the skull-like helmet that encased its head, shadowing its eyes but leaving the fleshy mouth open. Off to the side, sat the other shifters, switching between watching the fight and staring at the humans apprehensively.

The soldiers were completely astounded by the monstrosities, some of them having never been this close to a titan before. Violet watched their expressions with a smug grin on her face.

"The one on the right is Lightening, one of the young men I brought to the courtroom if you remember. The left is named Bones, surprisingly their human form is female but for some reason their titan form is male," Violet introduced, thoughtfully.

"I must admit, they're quite impressive," Pixis stated, taking a generous swig from his flask before one of his assistants confiscated it.

"Their magnificent!" Hange shrieked, practically drooling over them. "Oh, I have to take a better look!"

Hange was quick was bolt down the stairs and toward the fighting titans, only to be stopped at the edge of the arena by two armed guards. The rest of the group was cautious as they descended, eyes glued to the fighting titans, who had engaged in hand to hand combat.

"Please, miss, we can't allow you to come any closer. It could be dangerous," one of the guards, sternly.

"Are you afraid they'll attack us?" Nile asked, suspiciously. His two men were the furthest away from the creatures and looking the most afraid.

The guard simply shook his head. "They won't attack us directly, but they can get out of hand when they fight. They don't exactly pay the closest attention to the ground."

As if to prove their point, Bones stumbled from a low kick sent by its opponent and nearly crushed into the group of watching titan shifters, who had to dodge out of the way quickly and scrambled to the other side of the arena.

"Ah! Angel, it's so good to see you again!" Hange exclaimed, ignoring the fight long enough to embrace Gwen in a tight hug.

"It's good to see you too, Hange," gasped Gwen, struggling to breathe.

"Let her go, Four Eyes, before you suffocate her," scolded Levi.

Hange giggled but released the poor girl. The other shifters stayed a good distance away, watching the humans just as closely as the humans were watching them.

Before they could introduce themselves, the fight between the titans escalated and everyone's attention returned to them.

Light had the other in a head lock so tight it cracked its exposed skull. Bones clawed and tried to break the hold, sending its elbow back and knocking Light away, both titans wheezing from their encounter. This seemed to be the line because Bones stood straight and reached for its chest and, to the shock of the human audience, ripped two rib bones out from the base. It held them like swords before launching them toward Light.

This is where it all went to hell.


	20. Chapter 18

**Truthfully, this story is getting harder and harder for me to write, so excuse me if my posting schedule is erratic. I really just want to finish it, but I don't want to rush it, so this is going to be difficult for me, which is why my posting is so spaced out. So I am truly sorry about that, but I will be taking this story at the pace I'm comfortable with.**

 **Chapter 18: Light in the Shadows**

Eren was leaning against the wall outside the training room door, watching it impatiently and waiting for his plan to come to fruition. He could hear the amount of noise being created inside and knew Gabriel was doing as he was told, but he worried for how far the fight would go without him there to diffuse the situation. Before he could think too much about it, the door creaked open and a shadow snaked across the floor and took form in front of the brunette.

"You assssked for me?"

"Do you really have to talk like that, Piers?" Eren asked, offhandedly. "It's not really necessary."

Piers only shrugged and locked his impassive gaze on his leader. Eren had to suppress a shiver at the disturbing look. The shadow titan may follow him, but Eren couldn't help but be put off by his soul-staring eyes.

"I have a job for you and it involves our escaping this place," Rogue began, making sure Piers was paying complete attention. "How long are you able to keep your shadow form?"

"As long as needed, but I can only travel insssside existing sssshadows large and dark enough to cover me. I also cannot cross bright spacccces in that form without revealing myself," Piers hissed.

"Do you think you could follow a person's shadow?" asked Eren, urgently. "What I'm asking is, if you went back in the training area and submerged yourself inside one of the Survey Corp officers' shadows, would you be able to stay inside it long enough to escape with them?"

Wraith frowned. "We have tried thisss before, have we not? I tried to follow a guardssss sssshadow, but the corridorsss were too bright for me to continue following them passsed the sstaircassse. Not to mention, the guard would discover my exissssstence when I exit his shadow outssssside. How will thiss be different?"

"Because, I've extinguished some of the torches on the main level. Violet sent home most of the researchers for this visit, and I doubt the guards will notice a few put out torches," Eren quickly explained, sparing a glance at the training room door when a loud screeching sounded from inside. "All you have to do is fit yourself inside one of their shadows and follow them into their carriage and to their headquarters, there you can reveal yourself."

"And what then?"

"I want you to tell them the truth about Atlas Corp," said Eren, placing his hands on Piers' shoulders and looking him dead in the eye. "This is very important for our freedom, Piers. You need to tell them about the experiments and the torture and the horrible results. Tell them about what they do to us and what they've done to Mathias and Dove and Jimmy. Tell them every detail you can think of and pray to God they listen to you, do you understand? Do you know how important this is?"

For the first time, Wraith was shaken by the intense words and heated look in Eren's eyes. This was their true leader, not the complacent lapdog Violet always saw, or the strict and scary tyrant that the shifters were use to. He was still overly determined and fiercely protective but there was now a hint of desperation that had grown steadily larger over the years of watching his people go through hell. This Eren was wiser and far more dangerous than before, because now he wasn't just fighting for the dead. He was fighting to save the living.

Piers felt admiration for the boy in front of him and his chest swelled with courage for the first time since he was pulled from the Underground. The pale, skinny boy had always looked out for himself and that hadn't changed when he was kidnapped and brought here. He'd kept his distance until Eren showed up and brought them together, forcing the shifters to realize they wouldn't get anywhere by themselves. The boy never had a family before, but he imagined it'd be something like this.

"I'll do everything I can," the wraith titan promised with a determined nod. "I'll make them lisssten to me."

Eren smiled at that. "I know I can count on you with this. Once you've convinced them of what's going on here, I need you to get them to launch an attack on the compound and free us. I'll take care of things after that. Think you can do that?"

Again, Piers nodded and was about to reenter the training area, eager to start his mission, but Eren stopped him.

"Be careful, alright? This mission is incredibly important but it won't be worth it in the end if I lose anymore of you," he pleaded, thinking back to their first failed escape and the disastrous outcome. It frustrated him beyond belief to have to put his friends in this danger and not be able to get involved himself, but he had to keep Violet appeased or they wouldn't get anywhere.

Piers gave him a smirk before his body melted into the shadows and edged under the door.

"Have some faith in me, Rogue," came his amused response before the darkness was completely gone. Eren let out a relieved sigh.

"I just hope faith is enough, Wraith."

Inside the training arena, everything happened within a matter of seconds. The bone weapons tossed at Light hit their mark with a resounding thud and a disgusting squelch as they dug into the tough skin. One landed in his shoulder, the other found home in his abdomen. The force of the hit sent the titan hurtling towards the cavern entrance and nearly crushed the audience, who were rushed out of the way by the guards. The titan shifters had enough sense to get out of the way on their own, this wasn't their first out of control fight.

"Can't you control those monsters, Ms. Drake!" snarled Niles, quickly climbing to his feet after the tremors knocked him down.

Violet merely smiled from her place just inches from the downed giant, completely calm despite the life-threatening occurrence.

"I'm afraid I have little control when they are in this state, hardly anything can pull them to their senses when they become engrossed in their fights," Violet stated, shrugging.

The humans gaped at her in horror, wondering what they'd gotten themselves into. None of them had even brought their gear! How were they going to stop the fight from progressing?

Just as they were starting to panic, the lightening titan launched to his feet and bolted for his opponent, ignoring the bones lodged in his body. His fist pulled back and electricity sparked from his fist.

The sound of the two giants colliding sent a shockwave through the room, causing everyone to stumble.

"Dammit, where the hell is Eren?" growled Lily, trying to keep Andy on her feet.

"He's still putting the others away, I think," Gwen answered, worriedly.

The fight was getting out of hand, but for some reason, neither the guards nor Violet were doing anything to stop it. They acted as if this was a normal thing, which for all the soldiers knew, it could be. Even the titan shifters weren't as phased by the violence.

Unbeknownst to the spectators below, Eren was entering the training arena and watching the fight with tired eyes. When he asked Gabriel to cause a distraction so he could chat with Piers, he didn't think he'd go this far. Sure, they got a bit out of hand at times, but endangering the humans wasn't what he had in mind.

It was only when Bones was tossed across the circle, nearly crushing one of the poor Military Police, that Eren decided to end the brawl.

"That's ENOUGH!" he bellowed from halfway up the staircase. The power in his voice pushed it all around the room, making sure everyone heard his words.

The titans froze in place, the alpha command forcing them to pause mid-fight. The other shifters all bowed their heads, feeling the weight of the order despite it not being directed at them. The military officers stood there, astonished by the sudden silence in the room. They all turned to stare at Eren as he finished descending the stairs, a stern look on his face.

Violet smiled pleasantly. "Ah, Rogue, good of you to finally join us."

"Mm, sorry, got held up with something." The two exchanged a quick knowing look before Eren turned to the titans.

"I don't think I need to tell you what to do now, do I?" Rogue asked them, switching between their guilty faces. The two titans shook their heads and after making sure they were far enough away from the spectators, their bodies collapsed to the ground.

"What's happening!" Hange exclaimed, rushing to examine the deteriorating titan corpses. "Are they dead!?"

"We ain't dead, miss," came a snort from the pile of flesh. Eren and Lily were quick to assist the two, now human, forms of Gabriel and Hannah as they detached themselves from their titans' necks.

"EH?! They came out of the nape?! Oh, that's so fascinating." Hange began muttering excitedly to herself while her associates merely gawked and ignored her.

"This place is giving me a damn headache," Levi grumbled, staring around the cavern. First, he had to deal with out-of-control titans and now he had to listen to Hange gush about nonsense. He couldn't say he wasn't impressed by the creatures, especially when Rogue was able to instantly halt the fight with an easy order. The Captain was still trying to understand how he carried his voice like that and why it sent a shiver of apprehensive, and dare he say, _fear_ , down his spine.

Erwin had watched the entire encounter with sharp eyes, trying to understand the dynamics of the situation. It was clear Rogue and Violet were running the show, and that for some unknown reason, Rogue could totally control the other titans with little resistance. Even soldiers in his regiment weren't loyal enough to follow orders without even the slightest trace of a question. The Commander wondered if this kind of control worked only on shifters, or if Rogue was also able to order normal titans as well. Next to him, Erwin noticed Pixis deep in thought as well.

"I assume you're thinking about that little display just before the fight ended?" Pixis asked him.

"Hm, I was. I find it hard to believe that two titans, even titan shifters, could be completely halted from a vicious fight by a mere command," Erwin replied, watching Rogue as he scolded the two titans.

"Yes, it was quite the spectacle, wasn't it?" said Pixis in his usual amused demeanor. "Were you affected in anyway by the boy's voice? I know I almost dropped my flask, and nothing could make me almost waste a good drink!"

Erwin chuckled at that, before becoming serious again. "I can't say it didn't affect me, but I doubt it was anywhere near the level those titan's felt. Seeing something so large and enraged simply freeze like that is more than a little off-putting to say the least."

"That I can definitely agree with," Pixis answered with a small shudder. "Did you notice their fighting style? It's very familiar…"

Erwin nodded, thinking back to the brief moments before all hell broke loose. He had recognized many of the moves the two used but he couldn't figure out where they could have learned it.

"You believe they were trained by someone in the military?" Erwin asked, remembering the clean and calculated actions of the titans.

"It makes sense, doesn't it? Hand to hand is an important skill for them, who better to learn from than us?" said Pixis. "Perhaps one of the guards is ex-military."

A soft laugh sounded from behind them and they turned to find Violet giggling at them.

"One of my guards teach them? Oh please, they barely want to be within ten feet of them!"

"Then do you mind if I ask who did train them?" Pixis asked curiously.

"That would be me, sir," responded an unexpected voice.

Every solider turned to Eren in surprised. He stood tall with a blank face while the other titans watched the humans, gauging their reactions.

"You trained them, boy?" replied Pixis, eyebrows raised. "Where did you learn those techniques? They're quite impressive."

Eren simply shrugged humbly. "Before I came here, I was a military recruit. Hand to hand combat happen to be my specialty."

"A recruit, huh? Where were you planning on going after training?" Niles asked.

Eren gave a small smile and shrugged. "I was planning on joining the Survey Corp, sir."

The Military Police snickered at that, clearly judgmental of his decision, while Dawk raised an eyebrow. Hange looked overjoyed by the statement and Erwin seemed pleasantly surprised.

"Any particular reason for joining?" asked Pixis. "The glory of killing titans maybe? That seems to be a popular opinion."

Eren's face darkened, his hair falling in his eyes, remembering exactly why he joined the military and why he was working so hard to get out again.

"I wanted to take back my home, sir," he answered smoothly, but many of the people in the room shivered at his intense expression. "I wanted to take back what those titans stole from me."

"Rogue here, is from Shiganshina," added Violet, feeling the need to explain further. "His mother was killed by a titan and he and his sister were forced into refugee camps. You can imagine the impact that may have had on him."

The Survey Corp soldiers nodded sympathetically at that. Most who joined their regiment usually did it for the reason Pixis first said, glory and fame, but it was rare and refreshing to come across someone who wanted to fight for a good reason. The determined boy in front of them definitely had a good reason and it was somewhat disappointing that he couldn't have finished his training and fulfilled his dream.

Eren felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Pixis' fatherly face smiling at him.

"I'm sure you would have made a fine soldier, son," he said, genuinely. "And who knows? Maybe you'll get what you want in the end. After all, that's why you're here, isn't it? To make a difference in this fight against the titans?"

"Precisely right, Commander," Violet interrupted. "I'm glad you brought that up."

And with those words, the situation shifted to a more formal atmosphere. Eren stepped back and closed himself off again.

"Well, ladies and gentlemen, I hope you enjoyed that little demonstration of my titan's abilities," Violet announced, turning to face the soldiers while Rogue rounded up the shifters and quietly spoke to them. "But, as you've seen everything we have to offer, I think this little tour has ended. If you follow me, we can discuss the next steps in our little arrangement."

Violet started up the steps with the soldiers and officers in tow, many eager to leave the shifters, while Hange trudged along reluctantly. Over her shoulder, Violet locked eyes with Rogue and nodded in the general direction of their cells. Eren nodded, understanding the command.

"Come on, back to the cells," he said, urging them up the steps.

"Aw, man, can't we just play a little longer," groaned Hannah.

"After what just happened, why the hell would I let you keep going?" Eren said, raising an eyebrow.

Hannah just grumbled to herself before climbing up the stairs with the others.

"Hey, guys," Lily said, stopping halfway up the steps. The rest paused as well. "Where's Piers?"

It was then everyone noticed the Wraith titan's disappearance.

"Don't worry about him," Eren said, continuing their trek up the stairs. "If all goes well, we'll be out of here in no time."

"Another one of your plans, Eren?" asked Gabriel, tiredly.

Eren smiled. "Yes, but I'm much more confident in this plan."

"That's what you said last time," Lily muttered under her breath.

"How are you going to explain his disappearance to Violet? She may not like to get directly involved with us but she will definitely notice if one of us goes missing," remarked Gabriel.

"I'm aware, and I'm going to take the blame for it, but it'll be worth it in the end," Eren said.

Gwen had been quiet until then, along with Andy, preferring not to draw attention to herself, but now she decided to speak in a soft voice, "I hate it when you do that."

"Do what?" Eren asked, frowning and stopping to look back at her.

"Take the punishments like that. You get hurt all the time for our sake, you take the blame for things we do. I hate it," Gwen clarified, glumly, keeping her head down.

Eren smiled sadly and took her hand, squeezing it gently. "I'm sorry how much it upsets you, but this is important for everyone, and if it takes a little pain to get us freedom, then I'm more than willing to take it. Besides, better me than any of you."

Gwen nodded and decided to drop it, knowing nothing she said would change his mind. Eren gave her one last squeeze before they all left the training room, with Gwen lagging behind trying to hide her watery eyes.

Hours later, the soldiers and officers finally exited the facility, tired from their negotiations over how the titan shifters should be handled. Niles insisted they be put into military custody, locked up and only allowed out when they're needed, which would be rarely. Erwin tried to argue for them to be brought to the Survey Corps for proper military training and then later incorporated into a plan to take back Wall Maria. Pixis and his assistants remained mostly quiet, content to simply listen since the titans wouldn't really be of much use to his regiment.

In the end, they had decided to simply keep the titans at the facility and make visits to learn more about them and devise a plan for the future. The compound was much more well equipped to deal with the shifters than anything the officers could come up with, not to mention the hassle it would have been to move them all to a different place. No, it was safer for them and for everyone else if they stayed there, under constant supervision, though it greatly disappointed a certain woman.

"I can't believe we're just leaving them there," Hange groaned. "I could have done so many experiments! We could have tested their endurance, the time it takes them to shift. We didn't even get to see the transformation! We should have been there for that! Not to mention I didn't get to see all the titan forms, I mean, can you imagine how amazing they could be?!"

"Four-Eyes, would you just shut up? I've had a headache since that damn fight and you are not making it better," Levi snapped at her, losing his temper. He was still seething from listening to Niles whine about not getting his way throughout the entire discussion, and his fuse was running low.

"Besides, Hange, I'm sure you can run your tests another time. Remember, we'll be visiting often in the future," Erwin added, defusing the argument he could sense coming.

Hange pouted and slumped against the seat. "Fine."

Unaware to the soldiers, the floor under the seat was darker than the rest of the shadows. A pair of hazy eyes glared out from the darkness, watching the officers and patiently waiting to reach their destination. He couldn't reveal himself too early, afraid they would turn around and take him back without listening to him. He had to wait until they were far away from the compound. Luckily it had been dusk when they finished with their painfully boring discussion, which Piers had to sit through in the shadow of the large blonde commander. The poor boy had almost fallen asleep and missed his queue to leave, but he made it to the carriage without anyone noticing. Now, he had to keep himself to from asleep again while the carriage bumbled along the dirt road.


	21. Chapter 19

**I was supposed to post this almost a week ago, but the place I was vacation at had the worst wifi! I couldn't even open the page! But here it is finally!**

 **To the Guest who asked about Eren's Coordinate abilities, while the suggest was a great one, I don't feel entirely comfortable trying to incorporate it into my story, because honestly I don't completely understand the whole past memories thing and I read the manga! I think adding the memories would make things a little too complicated, trust me, it'd be better off for everyone if I didn't try to explain that mess ^.^' I did incorporate his ability however just not to its full extent. It'll be explained in the next chapter.**

 **By the way, writing Piers talking was torturous x.x so many S's...**

 **Hope y'all enjoy! Reviews are greatly appreciated! ^.^**

 **Chapter 19: The Shadows Speak**

When the officers' carriage finally arrived at their headquarters, they quickly went inside and marched down the hall. None of them spoke, but they all knew where they were going. It was late and while the tired soldiers wanted to retire to their beds they needed to discuss the day's events while it was still fresh in their minds.

Once inside Erwin's office, Hange and Levi were quick to take seats on the couch, while Erwin sat at his desk and Mike chose to lean against the wall behind him. None of the soldiers noticed the shifting of the shadows as a dark mass hide beneath the couch.

The silence was deafening for a few moments, with the men deep in thought over the events while Hange organized her scrambled notes and hummed to herself.

"I think today went well!" exclaimed Hange, finding the silence too heavy. She laid out her notes on the small table in front of her and started rummaging through them haphazardly, dropping a few sheets in her haste. "I gathered so much information! But if only I could have spoken to the shifters one-on-one, it would have given my research so much more depth!"

"I doubt you would have gotten much out of them. I don't know if the rest of you noticed, but that Drake women clearly wasn't telling us everything," Levi stated, voicing his earlier suspicions.

"Yes, she was quick to offer us an explanation of her research, wasn't she? For someone experimenting on children in secret, you would think she'd be more resistant to opening to us," Erwin agreed.

Levi had been listening to his colleague intently but while Erwin spoke a low, grating noise caught his attention. The veteran soldier glared around the room, look for the source of the sound, but found nothing out of place. He diverted his eyes back, but remained wary.

"But it was her idea to show her research and the subjects remember," said Hange pointedly.

"Only because she got caught," Levi added. "Had Rogue not interfered in their mission in Trost, none of this would have happened. We wouldn't be arguing with each other over how the hell a titan could lift a boulder and block a hole another titan made."

"I suppose we have much to thank Rogue for then," replied Erwin offhandedly. "But I do agree with Levi. Violet Drake is most certainly hiding something."

"This is why I wanted to speak to the shifters in private! Rogue especially would have been perfect to talk to. We could have learned everything from him! I'm sure he'd have been happy to tell us," Hange pouted. "If only we could talk to one of them."

Piers chuckled from his hiding place, finding the conversation far too perfect an opportunity not to take. Before his chance was gone, Wraith slunk out from under the couch. The dark shadows billowed out and began to condense, shift and grow, writhing and expanding in front of the shocked officers. The black tendrils took a human form, but stayed incorporeal. Piers did not fully trust these humans, as Rogue did, so staying in a form where he could easily protect himself and run was preferable. He spoke to them in a soft, wispy voice.

"I may be able to help with your problem."

* * *

"Sasha! Sasha! We shouldn't be out of bed like this!" Christa whispered, rushing after the brown-haired cadet.

"It's okay! I know a short-cut to the kitchens! I'm just going to get a midnight snack is all!" Sasha replied, excitedly.

"We've only been here for a day and you're already going to get us kicked out of the Survey Corp?" Ymir said, still blanked-faced as always as she followed behind the other two.

"You didn't have to follow me!"

"We tried to stop you!"

"Actually, I wanted to stay in bed, but Christa wouldn't stop nagging me."

The three girls rounded a corner and Sasha suddenly slammed into a solid object, knocking her to the floor and halting the other two.

Standing in their way was Mikasa, arms crossed, and expression stern. Behind her stood Armin, Jean, and Reiner, all looking tired and a bit grumpy.

"Could you guys be any louder?" grumbled Jean, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "I'm surprised the whole castle isn't awake by now."

"I would have been quiet if these two hadn't followed me," Sasha groaned back. "Why are you guys out of bed anyway?"

"I'm here to take you back to our room," Mikasa said crossly.

"We just saw Mikasa taking off, so we thought we'd tag along and see what's going on," smirked Reiner. "Can't let you ladies have all the fun."

"I just want to go back to bed," Ymir mumbled.

"But, but, I'm huuuuuungry!" argued Sasha, pleadingly. "Please, Mikasa, just one little snack? The kitchens are just down this hall!"

"No, Sasha," Mikasa insisted, grabbing her arm and dragging her back the way they'd come. "And keep your voice down. If we're quiet we can make it back to the dorm before anyone finds out we left."

"Well, there went our nightly adventure," Jean remarked, suspiciously pleased.

The group had only walked through a few corridors before they heard voices at the end of their hall, closing in fast. Most of the group started to panic, realizing the voices belonged to the recruits assigned to night patrol.

"Hide! Quick!" whispered Armin, hurriedly. Mikasa reacted fast and shoved her comrades into the nearest door, which happen to be a barren storeroom. She closed the door and pressed her ear to it, pushing the others away when they tried to do the same. She heard the footsteps of the soldiers as they passed the door and faded down the hall. They all breathed a sigh of relief.

"You moron! Look how much trouble you almost got us in!" hissed Jean, keeping his voice low and glaring at Sasha.

"Technically, if we'd stayed I bed and just let Sasha go, none of us would be worrying about this crap," said Ymir, dully.

"If we hurry, we might be able to make it back to bed before they come around again," theorized Armin.

"Then let's get out of here, before they come back…" Christa said, quickly opening the door, only to shut it again and turn to them with a panicked expression. "The Commander and Squad Leaders are coming!"

"They must be just getting back from their meeting in Trost," said Reiner, remembering a conversation he'd overheard between two of the Squad Leaders. "Just wait for them to go by and then leave."

The recruits waited with bated breath, anxious to leave their precarious situation and get back into bed. When they heard the footsteps pass their door they expected them to fade off down the hall but to their surprise, the door next to theirs opened and closed a moment later. There was silence then and just as Mikasa was about to herd to them to the safety of their dorms, Sasha exclaimed behind them.

"Guys! Guys, come here! I think I can hear the meeting their having!" Sasha excited whispered from the corner of the room. She was standing under a grated vent with her head tilted to the side.

"No, Sasha, we aren't staying here any longer than necessary," Mikasa insisted. "We all need to get back to our rooms before anyone catches us."

"I'm with Mikasa on this one," Armin agreed.

Sasha rolled her eyes. "You guys are no fun. It could be some really important stuff they're talking about."

Ignoring her comrades hushed protests, Sasha grabbed a dusty chair and quietly stepped up to the vent, peering into the adjoining room, but the inner panels were closed, blocking off any view.

"Sasha, get down," Mikasa scowled, but the brunette didn't listen.

"I swear, Potato Girl, if you get us any more trouble…" Ymir grumbled.

"Guys, I think they're talking about their meeting," Sasha said, pressing her ear to the grate and balancing precariously on the chair.

"Hear anything they're saying?" Reiner asked, surprisingly the only one not trying to rip Sasha off the chair.

"Don't encourage her, Reiner," hissed Jean.

"Oh, come on, don't tell me you're not curious," replied Reiner. "I mean, the higher ups go to some top-secret meeting, one the squad leaders won't tell us about, and you aren't the least bit curious about it?"

Jean glared at his larger friend before giving up in a huff of defeat and leaning against the wall. Mikasa continued to scowl but she gave up as well.

"What are they saying now, Sasha?" Armin asked, trying not to sound too keen.

"Um, let's see here…" The brunette listened closely, trying to make out the muffled sounds. She stared at the grate hard, as if watching it would make the voices louder, before she noticed a small rusted vent lever.

"Aha!"

Without answering her confused friends, Sasha quickly grabbed the old piece of metal and yanked it down.

A loud screeching noise filled the room as the corroded metal was forced to move and the vent was opened further, allowing sound, light, and an explosion of dust into their compact room.

Tense silence fell over the recruits as they listened to the adjoining room for any sounds of detection. Luckily, the murmuring of voices only paused for a moment before continuing, and they all breathed a sigh of relief before scrambling closer to the vent. With the inner panels open and the copious amounts of dust removed, the voices were now clear enough to be heard throughout their hiding spot.

"Are you actually trying to get us caught, Potato Girl?!" whispered Jean through gritted teeth. "That was way too close!"

"Are we going to listen to them or not?" Ymir asked, looking less than interested.

The rest nodded in agreement before turning their focus back to the grate and the voices floating from the other side.

"…For someone experimenting on children in secret, you would think she'd be more resistant to opening to us," they heard Commander Erwin say.

"But it was her idea to show her research and the subjects, remember?" This came from Squad Leader Hange.

"Only because she got caught," Captain Levi chimed in. "Had Rogue not interfered in their mission in Trost, none of this would have happened. We would still be arguing with each other over how the hell a titan could lift a boulder and block a hole another titan made."

If there were any more reluctance in the cadets to listen to a private meeting, it was quickly erased when that statement was made.

"They're meeting in Trost had to do with those Abnormals?" Armin whispered, pale-faced. "I knew it had to be something important not to tell us, but this…"

"Yeah, and what the hell were they saying about research and subjects and experimenting on children?" Reiner added, brow furrowing in concern and confusion. "You don't think those titans we saw were kids."

"No, we saw at least one of them remember? Angel looked like she was about our age…" said Mikasa.

"Mikasa and I also saw two more of them at that trial, one of them the Captain mentioned: Rogue," continued Armin, arms crossed as he thought. "If I remember right, this Rogue acted like a leader to them. "

When they returned to listening to the officers they heard Hange groaning in frustration.

"…Rogue especially would have been perfect to talk to. We could have learned everything from him! I'm sure he'd have been happy to tell us," Hange pouted. "If only we could talk to one of them."

At this moment, the cadets heard a silence in the other room but it was quickly chased away by a collective gasp from the higher ups and the sound of rushed movement. Then there came a chilled voice that sent a shiver over their spines.

"I may be able to help with your problem…" the voice hissed.

"Who the hell is that?!" Jean quietly exclaimed.

"I might be able to see inside now," Sasha whispered, leaning up and peering into the next room.

"See anything, Sasha?" asked Mikasa.

"Er, kinda. I can see the Commander's desk and…oh! Oh! I see something else! Its um…"

"What? What do you see?" Armin urged, anxious to know the owner of that awful voice.

"He's like some kind of shadow man. I-I don't know how to describe it, but it's like a bunch of black smoke in the middle of the room…" Sasha explained, sweat forming on her forehead.

The cadets all exchanged incredulous looks but before they could comment on Sasha strange observation, voices started up again.

"Who are you? How did you get in this building?" came the hard voice of the Commander.

"I am Wraith, one of the shifters of Atlassss Corp," Wraith said quietly and with little emotion. "How I came here is not important, what I have to say is what you should be concerned with."

"What the hell's Atlas Corp?" whispered Sasha. The others just shrugged.

Inside the room, the officers were unaware of the cadets eavesdropping and their attention was solely focused on Wraith. The shadow titan, however, had a sneaking suspicion they were being watched, but kept it to himself.

"Let me guess, Rogue sent you?" Levi asked as he settled back into the couch. When the intruder had first appeared, the soldiers had leapt into action, but seeing little threat in the boy, Levi backed down.

"Yessss, he isss growing…desssperate," Wraith admitted reluctantly. "It wasss uneasy getting here and he will no doubt take the conssssequences of my actionss, but it will be worth it in the end, if you are willing to listen."

"Oh, this is perfect!" Hange squealed, grabbing a fresh notebook and pen. "We can finally learn more about you without any censoring! Go on, go on! Sit down there and tell us everything you can."

Piers stared at the woman, taken aback by her over-enthusiastic tone but his featureless, smoky face revealed nothing. He took a seat in the only available chair pushed against the wall.

"I'm surprised Rogue is going through so much trouble to reach us," Erwin said, frowning in thought. "First, he sends Angel, and now you? And from what you've said before, he takes a large portion of the blame for this, correct?"

"He hasss great faith in you," Piers said, simply. "He believesss you are the only oness willing to help ussss."

"So what, he thinks we're a bunch of bleeding hearts ready to stick our necks out to help?" Levi asked skeptically.

"No," Piers said, dully. "He thinksss you will help, becaussse you want to defeat the titansss and keep humanity alive, and we are the perfect weaponsss for such a task."

"'You help us, we help you, right?" Erwin said, remembering their conversation with Angel before the trial.

"What's the catch?" Mike finally spoke up, having been quiet throughout the conversation.

"Catch?"

"Yes, what do you want exactly? You keep going on about us helping you, but what exactly does that mean? What are you wanting out of this arrangement?"

"What does anyone who has been trapped in a cage want?" hissed Piers, thinking it was quite obvious.

"Freedom," Erwin said. "You want freedom, correct? That was something Angel was focused on during our conversation."

"Yessss, we want our freedom, to be treated as people, not as titansss," explained Wraith. "Rogue is willing to go to great lengthsss to achieve this, even if it means putting himsssself in danger."

"Well, I suppose that's something we have in common then," Hange exclaimed.

"Wraith, we are more than willing to help, especially if it means gaining an advantage in this war," said Erwin. "But I think we should hear the full story, as much as you can tell us."

"Oh, I have much to tell. Where should I ssssstart…?" he pondered to himself.

"The beginning seems like a good place," Levi said, probably more sarcastic than he should have been given the situation.

Wraith glared but let the comment go.

"I sssuppose I should ssstart by sssaying, you were right not to trussst Violet Drake," Piers began, his hissing worsening as he thought of the devil woman. "She is a monsssstrous woman, who would do anything for power…"

"Do you really have to talk like that? Surely you could control it," interrupted Levi, growing irritated by the prolonged hissing.

"It iss not sssomething I control," the boy replied. "I did not alwaysss ssspeak like thissss. The exxxperiments have done ssstrange things to all of us, in one way or another. Truthfully, I'm sssurprised you haven't asssked about my shadow form."

"I assumed you would explain sooner or later," Erwin explained, shrugging.

Piers nodded and mentally backtracked to his storytelling.

"When Project Titan first began, Atlassss Corp. attempted to ussse adult sssubjectsss, thisss was back when they were funded by the government," Piers began, trying to recall everything he had overheard and learned over the years. It was something Piers was always good at even before his wraith form. Hiding and listening from the shadows, leaning secrets and storing them away for later. "They had created their firssst sssserum from captured titansss and believed their project was a successsss, but when they gave the serum to their volunteersss, the transssformation failed."

Hange was scribbling away on her paper, trying to write down every word Piers said.

"They tried sssso many variations of the formula, and each time the ssssubjects would get clossser and closssser to a full transsssformation, but in the end, it killed them."

"They had sssso many failuressss, the government began taking their funding away, but they ssstill believed Atlasss Corp would ssssucceed. It wasn't until Drake ssssuggested using children and teenagers in the experimentssss insssstead, that the funding wasss completely cut off."

"Didn't stop them, did it?" Levi muttered, earning a shush from Hange.

"No, it did not. The first successsssful transsssformation created the shifter we call Razor, he was their only subject at the time and because of this he recccceived the worst of the testing."

"Do you have real names? Because I doubt your mothers would name you 'Wraith' and 'Razor'," Hange interrupted curiously.

"Do you want him to finish his story or not?" snapped Levi, impatiently.

"I will answer your quessstion. Yessss, we have birth names, but we prefer to use our titan namessss outside of private conversationsss with each other." Seeing the confused looks Piers continued, "Our true names are all we have left of our human lives, it is basssically our only tie to our humanity. To usss, our true names are ssssacred, and sssso we prefer to keep them a ssssecret amongst ourselves, unlessss we abssssolutely trust you."

Hange nodded and quickly wrote down his explanation. When she was finished and lifted her eager eyes for Piers to continue with the story, he paused for a moment to remember where he left off, before he continued.

"Over the course of several years, we were each taken from our homesss but they were careful to only take those who wouldn't be missssed. When we arrived, we were immediately given our variation of the serum and forced to transssform. After that we would be comatosssse for days before we were dragged away for testing and more exxxperiments."

Hange raised her hand, but was quickly shot down by a cold stare from Levi. Erwin decided to step in.

"Save your questions until he's done, Hange."

The women sighed and began writing her questions. Wraith continued as if uninterrupted.

"For the majority of usss, the tessssts were manageable; painful, but tolerable. For Razor…they were abssssolute torture." Piers paused to shudder at the memory of Mathias being dragged back to his cell late at night, broken and unconscious while he secretly watched from his room.

"He wassss the first, ssso he endured the worssst of the tessssts, and eventually it drove him completely inssssane," said Wraith wistfully. "I wassss one of the earlier ssssubjects, so I watched as he sssslowly lost himssself. The tessssts, the punishmentsss, they became too much for him and he finally ssssnapped and attacked one of the guards, almost killing him."

The soldiers tensed at that. This was the first they were hearing of this uncontrollable shifter and the more they listened they more horrified they became.

"He was tortured for nearly a week after that. The ressst of uss tried to remain ignorant to his ssssuffering, too afraid to attract attention to ourssselves."

"Sssadly, many of ussss began to ssslowly lose our minds. We became violent and unconccccerned with the ssssafety of others. Assss if the mental degeneration wasssssn't enough, there were the physical onesss as well. The sssserum changed our human bodies in gruessssome ways, one sssubject grew cat ears and a tail, while another went completely blind. They were the onessss you did not meet during your visssit. In my cassse, my body gained the ability to completely breakdown into a shadow form, but I am weaker thisssss way."

"Didn't you try to escape?" Hange whispered, too much in disbelief to hold her question.

Wraith turned his impassive gaze onto her, his blank face somehow conveying tired sadness.

"Of coursssse we did. We made ssso many attemptsss but the punishmentsss became too sssteep for ussss. We decided it was easier to ssstay there and endure the worssst then continue to fight and become true monstersss…like Razor…"

"We were complacent little weaponssss, content with being treated like animalssss. They even branded usss…"

Piers solidified his arm just enough to reveal his sleeve, which he raised to reveal the scarred letters of PT-SW.

"They dripped a rare acccid into it, to prevent ussss from healing."

"PT-SW? What does that mean?" Erwin asked, eyebrows pulled together in concern.

"Project Titan- Sssubject Wraith. We all recccceived one with our titan names, becaussse that was all we were to them. A set of letters, a nameless tool."

"We had no hope. We had given up long ago and were preparing our livessss for the worsssst. That is until the last ssssubject was brought in. They gave him the name, Rogue..."


	22. Chapter 20

**I'm not gonna apologize for posting late (even though I don't really have a set schedule) but with school and work, it's hard to find free time to write. BUT, here's chapter 20 and I'm so grateful to all you patient readers who are, for some reason, still hanging on to the story!**

 **Reviews are greatly appreciated and I hope you enjoy!**

 **Chapter 20: Rogue Revealed**

The room next door was utterly silent. The cadets were so focused on the terrifying retelling none of them uttered a single word. Their minds were rushing with thoughts but the mysterious visitor wasn't done with his story.

"Rogue was not like ussss in many waysss. You know of hissss military training, correct?"

"One of these freaks has _military training_ ," Jean muttered, baffled and a little horrified.

"From what I've gathered, he only received a small amount before he was taken away. Surely training wasn't the reason he was chosen?" said Erwin, skeptically.

"No, in fact it hassss little ssssignificance to why he was chosen. In truth, the reassson he was brought in for the project was because of hissss father," the voice, Wraith continued.

"I do not know hisss name, Rogue wassss always hessssitant to sssspeak of him, but I know he was one of the original doctors ressssearching the titan ssserum. He left the project when the funding ended and refused to make contact."

While listening to this, the gears in Armin's head began turning, his brow furrowed in concentration. Everything this titan shifter was describing was horribly familiar, but with only a few vague mentions it was hard to form a solid picture. He listened closely, hoping to hear any more information to link his scattered thoughts.

"It wasss believed he had perfected the formula before he left, but when Wall Maria fell, he completely disssappeared. It was only when Rogue was brought in, that their ssssusspicions were proven correct. Rogue was not only a shifter, he was what Drake would call, a perfect sssspecimen…"

"Someone sounds jealous," Ymir snorted in contempt.

"How can you tell? I can barely understand what the guy's saying…" grumbling Jean, before they were both hushed by Mikasa.

"Becausssse his formula was different, he did not ssssuffer the same…dyssssfunctions as the resssst of ussss and he learned to control hisss titan much faster than any of usss ever could."

"At firssst, Rogue was…impulsive, hot-headed, and, in my own opinion, obnoxxxioussss. He would argue with Drake and the guardssss and fight the tesstss they performed on him. If he had been any of use, he would have been ssseverely punished, but because he was Drake'ss _favorite_ , they let it sssslide, that isss until…"

There was a tense pause between words, which was only interrupted when Levi spoke up.

"Until what, brat?"

"Sssorry, it isss ssstill painful, but as I sssaid, Drake allowed hisss behavior, until the night Rogue decccided to essscape," Wraith continued, his low voice dipping into a shaky whisper that was barely heard by the cadets.

"He'sss plan was decccent but mossst of usss were againsss the idea. We had already exxxxperiencccced failure and punishment far too many timesss. We feared the repercusionsss of another failed attempted, but Rogue was persssissent. It isss a gift of hiss to perssssuade othersss into action, ssso we followed hisss plan and managed to make it to the foresssst, farther than anyone had gotten before, but we were naïve to think they would not find ussss. We were ambushed and dragged back. We exxxpected punishment, but nothing could prepare ussss for what they had in mind…"

Another pause, this one seeming to be filled with anguish of some sort, Wraith was breathing erratically, as if he were trying to keep himself together.

"We did not ssssee when or how it happened, all we had wasss what Rogue told ussss. In a way, it made it sssso much worse," he continued, his voice pained. "After our plan failed and we found ourselves in our roomsss again, we were forccced to wait inside our locked cccells until they brought ussss out for training, asss if nothing had happened. When we entered the training room, Rogue was already there and he wassss…traumatized, would be a good way to desssscribe it."

"We worried over the punishment he'd reccccceived, and wondered if we would be sssubjected to it as well. That is when we noticcced one of our own wassss misssssing…"

After a brief pause to collect himself, Wraith's voice grew quiet.

"Hissss name was James, his true name, but we alwayssss called him Jimmy. He was only eight yearsss old, the youngessst of ussss all," he said, forlornly. The eerie mood in room only dropped with this latest bomb of information.

"One of them was that young?" Christa voiced, hand over her mouth and utter horror.

"I don't like where this is going," said Mikasa, pulling her scarf up. They all paused again as that hissing voice drifted through the vent again.

"He was murdered that day," he said, further shocking his audience in both rooms. "Rogue told usss everything he could. He was taken to the top of Wall Rossse and forcccced to watch assss Jimmy was killed in hissss titan form…by your troops."

The silence in the room was palpable, as the officers tried to wrap their heads around this new piece of information.

"Oh! I think I remember that day!" Hange suddenly exclaimed, before her voice dropped in realization. "Wait… that titan, the one with the translucent skin…he was one of you?"

"Yesssss, they drugged him sssso he would rampage when your group approached," Wraith confirmed, with sadness in his voice.

"I told you we should have captured him! He might have lived if we brought him back to study!" Hange said, horrified, and from the sound of shuffling paper, she was furiously writing in her notes.

"I doubt Drake would have allowed it, Hange," Erwin said, solemnly. "They brought that boy out there to be made an example of, and I'm sad to realize our involvement in it, but nothing could have been done then and nothing can be done now."

There was a moment of silence and slight grumbling from the titan-fanatic.

"That poor boy," whispered Christa, tears in her eyes.

"Like the Commander said, nothing we can do about it…" Ymir said, bluntly, but still giving the blonde a comforting arm around her shoulders.

"Do not think we blame you for what happened. Rogue sssettled our grudge againssst you yearsss ago," Wraith said. "Jimmy'sss death was the tipping point for ussss and for Atlasss Corp. The exxxxxperimentssss and training became rigorous and the punishmentssss more frequent. Usss ssssubjects grew further apart from each other, not that we were clossse to begin with…"

The cadets didn't miss the sarcastic grumbling that accompanied that last sentence but didn't have time to analyze it before Wraith continued.

"As a result, we sssstarted losssing oursssselves faster than before. Our minds deteriorated quickly and we became lesssss…human. Fightssss broke out daily, some becoming incredibly violent, and we hardly sssspoke to one another. The biggessst change, however, was Rogue."

"He became more focussssed and colder, training usss in everything he wasss taught, while taking the blame for our missstakes. Over time, he became our leader, the one we lisssstened to and followed without question, but at the ssssame time, he became passsssive toward Violet," Wraith added, his voice lowering in what could be described as loathing. "That woman issss vile, but Rogue was ssssubmissive to her and only her, like a favored _pet_."

"He just accepted it? Let her boss him around like that?" asked Hange, sounding incredulous. It did seem like an odd notion for the leader of a gang of titans to be submissive to anyone, let alone a human.

"I believe he isss doing it to earn her trussst, to fool her into thinking he isss truly on her ssssside," he explained with heated malice. "But do you know how frussstrating and _infuriating_ it is, to sssee someone you resssspect being treated like ssssome kind of _lapdog_. Like a common _house pet!"_

The cadets shivered at the pure amount of hatred that seeped into Wraith's wispy voice.

"Calm down, kid, you're starting to fade through the chair," came the Captains voice, oddly dull sounding for someone witnessing something that shouldn't be physically possible.

"My apologies, my form issss hard to control when my emotionssss peak," admitted Wraith, after a moment of silence.

"Can you ssssee now, why we are sssso dessssperate to leave that placcce? Why we would give ssso many sssacrificcces to be away from that awful woman?" Wraith finished, sounding far more wretched than he had throughout the entire story. "We would give anything to be free…"

The cadets sat in silence, feeling pity for the boy in the other room, even Jean was slightly sympathetic towards Wraith, after all, isn't that what they were fighting for as well? For a way to be free of the walls and the fear of the titans?

"We understand your struggle, Wraith, and truthfully I'm impressed by your tenacity," the Commander said. "We'll have to discuss our future actions before we make any decisions however."

"I underssstand. I do not expect you to decide tonight," Wraith replied, sounding tired. "May I offer one more important detail for you to think over?"

"Might as well, brat," sighed Levi, clearly wanting to end the conversation and go to bed.

"Rogue possessss a remarkable ability, one I'm sure you would kill to get your hands on…"

Now the cadets were interested. They had been growing tired and with the conversation coming to a close, they were whispering about how they were going to escape without anyone catching them, but with that sentence, their attention was immediately brought back to the other room.

"Rogue hasss the ability to control titans shiftersss and, in theory, the titansss themselves…"

Every human seemed to freeze in both rooms. Shocked beyond belief by such a bold statement.

"You're talking about that voice trick he did?" Mike said quietly, startling the recruits. They'd forgotten he was in there. "The one that stopped the fighting titans?"

"It isss not some parlor trick," Wraith hissed, his voice rising in volume and heat. "It isss his titan's ability, like my shadow form, but sssso much more powerful. When he uses that command, we have no choice but to follow."

"Like an Alpha command?" Levi asked, dully. "Must be frustrating have to follow his every word."

"Not really. He rarely ussses hisss ability. He believes it issss cruel to forccce uss to his will," the shifter replied.

Meanwhile, inside the room, a certain recruit was staring at the vent with obvious hope and excitement. Could this Rogue be the one they were looking for? Reiner listened harder, wanting to catch every detail.

The others didn't notice his odd behavior, too engrossed in their eavesdropping.

"Good to know he has some self-control over this ability," said Erwin. "It would be problematic if he abused something that powerful."

"No kidding," Jean muttered in agreement. "I don't want to imagine what that freak could do if he went around controlling titans."

A few of them agreed to that sentiment, but Armin continued to frown at the vent, the nagging feeling never leaving him.

"That isss all I have to tell," said the shifters in fatigue.

"Hm, you've given us a lot to think about, Wraith," Erwin said. From the sound of wood scraping on wood, the Commander seemed to be getting up from his chair. "Tomorrow morning, I'll gather all the squad leaders and we'll hold a meeting, but for tonight, I believe we all need rest."

"As for where you'll be staying for the night…"

"I say we keep him in the dungeon," Levi interrupted. "I know you're probably sick of cells, but I don't trust you yet."

"What! We can't keep him there! Hasn't he been through enough poor treatment?" Hange said indignantly.

"Sadly, I have to agree with Levi. It's merely a precaution, but it would be best to keep you somewhere we know is secure."

Wraith sighed but reluctantly agreed to the arrangements. Movement sounded from the vent, and the recruits were certain the meeting was finally over. But, of course, the nights surprises weren't over yet.

"Just out of curiosity," Erwin said, before they left the room. "I know you don't like to reveal your names, but could you possibly tell us Rogue's? I'm sure it would be easy to look up in the military registry given the odd circumstance surrounding his leaving training, but to save us the trouble…"

"I ssssuppose Rogue would not mind, sssseeing as he holdssss you in sssuch high regards," Wraith admitted, thoughfully. "Eren Jaeger, that is Rogue's true name."

Erwin nodded, but said nothing else as the group exited the room and their footsteps faded down the hall. On the other side of the door, time seemed to have halted.

Every cadet in that room stood frozen, their faces a mask of shock and disbelief. While his friends were still processing the unexpected words, Armin's mind was moving at lightning speed, linking everything he'd heard in that room to the events of Eren's disappearance. He couldn't believe how dense he was not to see it when they first started talking about a trainee that was pulled out after only a short time. _Of course_ , it had to be Eren.

"It all makes sense now…" the blond boy muttered incredulously. "How did I not see it…"

"Guys…what do we do now?" Sasha asked, brow furrowed. She glanced at the door, but she couldn't imagine going to bed after a reveal like that. Still, she didn't want to be caught…

Jean was about to suggest they leave and go back to their dorms when Mikasa suddenly bolted for the door, slipping silently into the hall. Armin followed without question, already anticipating where she was headed.

Reiner was almost to the door when Jean grabbed his forearm and stopped him.

"You're not seriously going after them, are you?" he hissed.

The hulking blond paused and frowned at Jean. "I get why you're so uneasy about all this, I mean, I'm still trying to wrap my head around it myself, but if it were Marco, you'd want to find him too, wouldn't you?"

Jean glared at him, but didn't say a word.

"Exactly. Try to imagine what they're going through. I don't care what you do, I'm helping them find Eren."

Reiner pulled his arm away and left quickly without a backward glance.

"I can't believe Eren's a titan…" Christa whispered, still trying to process her thoughts.

"God's got some twisted sense of humor, huh?" Ymir snorted.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Sasha in confusion.

"Come on, we're talking about the kid that wanted to slay all the titans, right? I mean, he wouldn't _shut up_ about "killing every titan". How ironic that he ends up becoming one. It's almost funny!"

"It's not funny, Ymir," whispered Christa. She turned to watch Jean with his fist clenched. "Are you okay, Jean?"

"Fine," he grumbled before he roughly grabbed the door and yanked it open, nearly smacking Connie in the face.

"Woah, what the hell!" Connie screeched, nearly falling on his rear. Behind him stood Marco and Bertholdt, looking worried and confused. When Connie regained his bearings, he snapped at Jean. "Where were you guys! We woke up and you were gone! We even checked the girl's dorm, but none of you were there!"

"You went in the girl's dorm?" Ymir asked with a raised eyebrow, torn between being angry and mildly impressed.

Connie turned red in the face and hissed, "That's not the point!"

"Jean, what's going on? Why are you all out of bed so late?" asked Marco, frowning at his best friend.

"We didn't mean to," Jean grumbled, checking the corridor. "Potato Girl decided she needed a late-night snack and me, Reiner and Armin just followed Mikasa to help track her down. Don't know why I even bothered…"

"Speaking of which, where are Reiner, Armin, and Mikasa? Did they go back to bed?" Bert asked, peeking into the room they had just left.

"They ran off that way," Sasha said, frowning down the hall. "Though I don't know where they went since the dorms are the other way…"

"Isn't it obvious? They went to talk to that freak down in the dungeons," explained Ymir. She pulled Christa to her side and started marching down the hall where the others had disappeared. "Normally I wouldn't be getting involved in all this drama, but I gotta admit, this is getting interesting."

Sasha sighed and followed them, hating to admit she was curious as well.

"Hey! Where are you going?!"

"Keep your big mouth shut, Springer!" snapped Jean. "You want us getting caught?"

Connie sputtered out apologies but Jean wasn't listening. He was already stiffly walking down the hall behind Sasha. The other three caught up to him and they stealthily made their way through the halls.

"You want to let us in on what's going on, Jean?" Marco asked softly. He could tell his friend was tense but he couldn't imagine what would make him act so anxious.

"Long story short?" he replied, running his hands through his hair. "There's a titan in the basement the others are going to talk to, there's a secret organization experimenting on children, and oh, the best part? Eren Jaeger's running around as some titan leader, with this magical ability to control titan's. Did I miss anything?"

"No, I think you got the gist of it," sighed Sasha, as they found the entrance to the basement.

The other three boys gaped at them.

"I can't tell if you're kidding or not," Connie said, incredulously.

"God, I wish I was," the boy grumbled.

The five of them descended the basement steps, unsure where they were going or what they were going to find down there. The whole situation was confusing and hard to believe, but still, they trudged on until they found a light at the end the end of the corridor.


	23. Chapter 21

**College sucks. Like seriously.**

 **Chapter 21: Cadet Cavalry**

When Jean and the other's stepped into the dimly lit dungeon corridor they found the source of the light to be a torch lit at the far end of the hall. Mikasa, Armin, and Reiner were just approaching the end cells after searching through all the other empty ones.

"Guys, wait up!" Connie called. Their group caught up to them and when they peered into the dim cell, they saw a pair of glaring white eyes set into the pitch black, featureless body.

"Can I help you?" hissed Wraith, incredibly tired and irritated by their sudden appearance.

"Holy shit, what is that!?" shrieked Connie, nearly stumbling back into Bertholdt in shock. Jean sighed and rubbed his forehead. It seemed even after filling him and the other two in on the conversation they'd overheard, Connie was still going to make an ass of himself.

"Exxxxcuse you!" snapped the shadow titan, reaching his limits. At the sound of his hissing voice, Connie, Marco, and Bertholdt shivered in fear. "If you have come to gawk at and inssssult me, then I'll assssk you to kindly leave!"

"We're sorry about him," Armin was quick say. "He's just surprised by you is all. I mean, it's not every day you meet someone made of shadows, right?"

Wraith continued to glare but allowed the excuse. "Why are you here?"

"I want to know where Eren is," said Mikasa bluntly. She was glaring into the cell with heated eyes, furious and worried over her brother's situation.

"Ah, you were lissstening, weren't you?"

When all but Marco, Connie, and Bertholdt nodded, Wraith hissed in annoyance and replied, "I thought I heard ssssome ratssss. Oh, Rogue will not be pleasssed…"

"Where. Is. He," snarled the black-haired girl.

"And who are you? Why should I tell you anything, little girl?" whispered Wraith dryly.

Armin sighed. He was hoping to calmly talk Wraith into revealing Eren's location but it seemed Mikasa was too impatient for that. Though, his way might not have been quicker if Wraith was stubborn enough.

"I'm his sister," she snapped.

"Ah, you musssst be Mikassssa, yessss?" Wraith asked. When she nodded, he continued, "He use to speak of you often…"

"Use to?" repeated Christa curiously.

Wraith nodded solemnly. "He does not talk about hissss old life very often anymore. It sssseems to make him sssad to think about."

"Well, if you tell us where he is, he wouldn't be sad anymore," Armin tried again, hoping to coax the shifter into telling them. "He'd be back with his friends and family and who knows? We may even be able to get the other's out and help them too."

Wraith stared at him before letting out a disturbing, choked laugh. "You honesssstly believe a group of teenagers could break ussss free? How naïve are you?"

"Hey, you'd be surprised what we can do," Reiner said with a smirk. "I bet we can get them out just fine on our own!"

"I wouldn't go that far," Jean muttered, sweat dropping down his brow.

"We can and _will_ get Eren out," Mikasa said firmly. Her eyes narrowed. "All we need are coordinates."

Wraith held her gaze and the two engaged in a stare off, neither one budging for the other.

"Guys, we really don't have all night," Marco said, staring up the corridor worriedly.

The titan huffed and crossed his incorporeal arms. "I am sssorry, but if Eren were to find out I ssssent you after him, he'd be furioussss."

"But isn't that why you're here?" said Christa, softly. She flinched slightly when he turned his blank eyes on her, but she powered on. "You said Eren sent you to convince the Survey Corp to free him and the other subjects, right? Why would he be mad if we came to help?"

"Because you are a ssssmall group of cadetsss with little exxxxperiencccce outside of training," Wraith explained. "To ssssend you there would be a death ssssentenccce. Ssso yesss, Eren would be very disssspleased with me, essspecially consssidering his passst with you."

Mikasa simply glared at him, trying to think of a way to force him to tell them where Eren was. Before she could voice her thoughts, Jean snorted and gave Wraith an answer he wasn't expecting.

"So what?"

Wraith raised an eyebrow, though the movement was lost on his dark face. When he didn't respond, Jean continued, looking annoyed and bored at the same time.

"So what if Eren gets pissed with us for wanting to find him? It wouldn't be the first time that arrogant, suicidal bastard turned down help," he said, surprising his fellow cadets. "If that guy can't get it through his thick skull that he doesn't have to take on everything alone then he hasn't fucking changed since training. And guess what? We didn't listen to him then, and we aren't listening now. I may not like the guy, but I can understand why Mikasa and Armin are so set on finding him. So why don't you just tell us where the fuck we can find him, before Mikasa decides to start getting rough. And trust me, that's not something you want."

The rest of them nodded in agreement, still taken aback by Jean's sincere, if not slightly rude, words. Mikasa glared through the bars, emphasizing Jean's threat. White eyes shifted between each face, from Mikasa's death glare to Armin's anxious expression, and landed back on Jean. The boy appeared irritated but determined, anger set in his gold eyes.

"You remind me of him," Wraith concluded with a nod. "Sssset in the choiccces you make, but sssstill concccccerned for otherssss."

"The hell are you talking about now?" Connie grunted, more confused than ever.

Reiner snorted out a laugh, "He says Jean reminds him of Eren."

The shadow nodded again and Jean fumed. "I'm nothing like that suicidal moron!"

The other chuckled under their breaths, even Mikasa was holding back a smile.

When they settled down, Wraith let out a sigh and reluctantly said, "I will give you the coordinatessss and rough directions to the sssubject'ss ccccelllss, but that is all I am giving you. And if he assssksss, you never sssaw me…"

"Understood," Armin said, in relief.

After giving them the set of numbers, Wraith curled back up on his bed without another word, exhausted from the day's event.

"Thank you, Wraith," Mikasa said as they dashed back up the stairs.

"I wisssh you the bessst of luck…"

* * *

"Mikasa! Mikasa!" hissed Jean, doing his best to keep up with the black-haired girl as she flitted to her dorm room.

Entering her room with Sasha, Christa and Ymir on her heels, she turned and blocked the door from the boys.

"Go back to your dorm and get dressed if you're coming," she said blankly.

Jean spluttered out in shock while Armin, Reiner, and Bertholdt hurriedly left for their rooms. Marco and Connie stood behind them, conflicted.

"You're not seriously going right now, are you!?" Jean asked in astonishment.

"Of course we are, Eren's being held prisoner somewhere and he needs us. If you don't want to go, then fine, stay out of our way." With those harsh words, Mikasa quickly slammed the door in their stunned faces.

After nearly a minute of standing in front of the girl's room, Jean snapped out of his daze and grit his teeth. He started marching off down the hall.

"So, uh, what are we doing?" Connie asked, having to jog to keep up with Jean's long strides. Marco followed along silently, face set in a thoughtful frown.

Jean didn't answer, and instead opened the door to the boy's dorm. Armin, Reiner, and Bertholdt had already dressed and were about to leave. They paid no mind to their returning comrades as they slipped out the door and practically ran back to the girl's dorm.

Jean started rummaging in his footlocker for clothes. Marco sighed and started pulling clothes out as well.

"Wait, you guys aren't seriously going too, are you?!" exclaimed Connie.

"Just shut up and get dressed," snapped Jean, fed up with the night. "Unless you wanna stay here and explain to the higher ups why your dormmates are missing when they find out we're gone?"

Connie shuddered, just imagining being interrogated by the Commander, or worse, Captain Levi. He quickly starting dressing, not wanting to be left behind.

When they were done, they all left again to head back to the girl's dorm.

Ten minutes later, the cadets found themselves galloping away from the base on borrowed horses. Mikasa and Armin took the lead, with the blonde acting as the navigator. Swinging on their hips were their ODM gear, taken from the storage room. It was doubtful they would need the wires but the swords were great weapons, whether the target was titan or not.

"I can't believe we're actually doing this…" Jean grumbled under his breath.

"No point in thinking over it now, Jean," his best friend said with a kind smile.

"You could have always stayed back," snorted Reiner. "No one forced you to come along."

Jean grumbled under his breath but was ultimately ignored by the rest.

"According to the coordinates Wraith gave us, it'll probably be another hour before we reach it," Armin called out to everyone. There was a collective groan that ended quickly with a glare from Mikasa.

There was minimal talking as they rode forward, most of them too tired to make conversation. Jean was certain this plan was going to go down the drain quickly. How were they supposed to fight like this, as exhausted as they were? Not only that, they were just cadets for god's sake! They didn't have any experience fighting humans and what little experience they had fighting titans would barely help in this situation. This facility was probably loaded down with trained guards armed with weapons more appropriate than swords, like guns. Jean had little faith in what they were doing, but even he had enough concern for his friends to continue galloping along.

The hour past agonizingly slow. They'd had to slow down when they reached the forest path and several times their poor horses would trip over tree roots and fallen branches. When Armin informed everyone they would be reaching the facility soon, they all stopped and loosely tied their horses to nearby trees. They planned to snag them on the way out and didn't want to waste time struggling with knots. Sasha and Connie nearly fell off their horses in their tired daze.

"It should be just through these trees," Armin said moving forward quietly.

"I think I see light!" Sasha exclaimed, earning several quick hushes.

The cadets found themselves at the edge of a large clearing and they quickly found a tree to hide behind. In the center of the clearing stood the concrete building, guarded by two beefed up men in uniform, large shotguns in hand.

"Guys, do we have some sort of plan here?" Jean asked, nervously staring at the gunmen.

"I might have something in mind," Armin said, analyzing the situation. "A simple distraction and take down should work without causing too much noise. If we do it right, any guards inside shouldn't hear us taking these guards down, but it could be disastrous if one of those guns goes off."

"Then we go for the guns first and knock the men out next," Mikasa said sharply. She looked over at the others. "Who's going to be the distraction?"

As if they all shared the same mind, each recruit turned to stare expectantly at the one cadet slumped against his tree, fumbling with his gear and muttering to himself. When he noticed the silence, Connie looked up and found nine pairs of eyes staring back at him.

"Er, what? Did I miss something?"

Five minutes later, Connie came stumbling out of the forest, holding his arm and showing off an obvious limp. When the guards noticed him, they stiffened and lifted their weapons to point at the boy's chest.

"Who are you? What are you doing out here?"

"Oh, uh, heh, hi," Connie sheepishly said, stopping in his tracks. He attempted to salute them but pretended to wince and went back to holding his arm. "I'm cadet Connie Springer, and ya see, I kinda got lost from my squad while we were out on late training patrols. You guys wouldn't happen to know how to get back to Survey Corp HQ, would you?"

The men shared a look, but noting the boy's injuries and uniform, they lowered their guns and walked closer to him. It took every ounce of willpower Connie had not to turn and run. He tried not to look as scared as he felt when they were mere feet away from him.

"How'd you get so banged up, son?" one of them asked, curiously.

"Ah, well, my horse got spooked and threw me off into a tree," Connie explained, using the excuse Armin had told him. He tried to look embarrassed about his misfortune.

One of the men sighed and they both slung their guns over their shoulder. "Alright, kid, we'll let you off this time, given the situation, but this area is restricted. The Survey Corp headquarters are about—,"

Before he could finish, his gun was grabbed from behind and he spun around in time to catch a brutal punch to the face, curtesy of Mikasa. He crumpled to the ground, unconscious, while Reiner knocked out the second man, and stole his weapon.

"Good work, Connie. I didn't know you could act," complimented Reiner, casually.

"I wasn't completely acting!" snapped the smaller boy, pulling his arm away to reveal a clean, genuine cut. "Jean really cut me with his blade!"

"Hey, they wouldn't have believed you if you weren't bleeding," said Jean. He, Bert, Marco, and Reiner lifted the unconscious guards and stashed them behind the tree line. "Be glad it was just a small cut. We could have had Mikasa break your bones."

Connie shuttered at the thought and held still while Christa bandaged up his arm. The cut honestly wasn't that bad, it wouldn't even need stitches, but they needed everyone in their best shape.

"That went better than I expected," remarked Armin, frowning at guns. "What do we do with those?"

"We use 'em, of course," chuckled Reiner, lifting the shotgun up to stare down the sight. "Me and Bertholdt went hunting enough to know how to use a gun."

"But those are shotguns, not hunting rifles," said Sasha, suspiciously.

Reiner shrugged while Bert grabbed the other gun and checked the chamber for ammunition. "We're still a better shot than anyone else here."

"Let's try not to go that far," Armin said, creeping back towards the steel door. "I really don't want anyone dying here, on either side."

"We might not have a choice though, Armin," replied Mikasa. When they all surrounded the door, everyone looked to Armin for further instructions. The blonde sighed and stared at the door.

"We're going in blind from this point on, so we'll have to proceed with caution," he said, trying to listen for the other side of the door, but even if there were someone there, the door was too thick to hear anything.

"Unless we get caught, then all bets are off," muttered Reiner. Mikasa agreed with him and unsheathed her sword, all but Armin followed her lead.

The blonde sighed in defeat and pulled on the door handle, surprised to find it unlocked.

"Guess they assumed those guards would be enough protection," Jean deduced.

The group quickly snuck inside, closing the door as quickly as possible, and hiding in a shadowed corner. The open room didn't provide much cover for them, but luckily, they'd entered at a time when the guards were on patrol somewhere else.

"Wraith said we'll need to take the left door down the stairs. The cells should be at the bottom," Armin whispered. "Reiner and Bertholdt will take the lead. Mikasa and Jean will take the back and protect our rears in case any of the guards show up. Alright?"

They all nodded in agreement, though Mikasa looked less than pleased to be the last one down, and Reiner and Bert moved forward and hesitantly opened the door.

"It's clear for now," the large blonde muttered, quickly starting down the stairs, gun raised. Bertholdt and the rest followed suit and they all descended down the dimly lit stairway, alert and cautious of what they would find at the bottom.


	24. Chapter 22

**So I've made this chapter a bit longer than normal, because I feel kinda bad I can't post as often as I should, but with the semester over next week I should be able to finish up this story.**

 **I also want to clarify a few things about the ending of this story, which is coming up in the next couple chapters or so. When I first started this story, nothing about the Founding Titan or the nine original titans was revealed nor was there anything about the memories from Eren's father, so I did not, and will not, take them into account with the end of this story. The breakout was meant to be the final climax to this and I intend to keep it like that.**

 **I can't express how much I appreciate you guys who stick around with this story, I know I don't upload as often as I should, but I'm glad your all enjoying it and thank you to all my reviewers for taking the time to ask me questions and tell me what they think.**

 **Now, onto Chapter 22!**

 **Chapter 22: Soldiers Meet Shifters**

The descent down the stairs was tense and quiet besides the sound of their boots on the stone steps. It was a miracle none of them had run into a guard but they didn't think this luck would hold out. This assumption was proven correct when the sound of shouting reached their ears and two guards came running up the steps, guns raised.

Armin was just about to try talking to them, trying to think of anything that would stop them from doing something rash, but in the next moment, the sound of gunfire echoed through the high-ceilinged stairway. Two loud shots rang through and the cadet's covered their ears. When they looked up, the two guards had fallen limply to the ground, blood oozing form their chests. In front of them, Reiner and Bertholdt still had their weapons raised, smoke curling up from the barrel.

"D-did you j-just…?" Jean stammered, hardly able to speak from the horror in front of them. Christa had her hands over her mouth, shock taking over her features while Ymir grabbed her and shielded her from the view.

Armin eased between the two boys and quickly approached the men. He bent and touched their necks, but wasn't surprised when he couldn't find a pulse.

"They're dead," said the blonde, standing up. He assumed this would happen and he'd been willing to take the guilt of knowing he was involved in killing someone, especially if it was between him and his friends and a random guard. Still, there was a lingering feeling of revulsion and regret at what his comrades had done to men who were only doing their jobs.

"You know they would have shot first without asking questions, especially when they saw our guns," Reiner said, blandly. "It was us or them."

"But did you have to kill them?!" exclaimed Connie, horrified. "Couldn't you have just wounded them or something? You didn't have to shoot them in the chest!"

"Enough, we can't worry about that now," Armin said, swallowing the vomit that wanted to rise in his throat. "It's happened and we can't change it. We need to hurry now, in case the gunfire alerted anymore guards."

Connie was about to argue when a hand was placed on his shoulder. Looking up, he found Marco shaking his head. There was a sadness in his usually cheerful gaze, but even the saint-like young man understood the need for their actions. Even if he didn't like it.

The shorter male huffed and started hurrying down the steps with the rest of them, their pace picking up in their haste to reach the bottom. Sasha and Mikasa were grim-faced, but said nothing. After the fall and retaking of Wall Rose, they'd witnessed enough tragedy and sacrifice to push past their own feelings of guilt.

When they reached the bottom they were relieved to find only a small, empty landing and a steel door. Armin tested the handled and sighed when it refused to turn.

"We'll need the keys from one of those guards," he said, looking back up the dark stairway where they'd left the bodies.

"I'll grab them," Reiner volunteered, making sure his gun was properly reloaded before trudging back up to the steps. He didn't feel guilty for killing the guards, but he did have some regret for having done it in front of his friends. It was obvious they were uncomfortable with murder, but the blonde saw it more as self-defense.

Reaching the bodies, the bulky boy quickly searched through their pockets and came up with a set of bronze keys. He was about to go back down when he heard footsteps further up.

From the bottom of the stairs, the cadets were waiting impatiently for Reiner's return. Mikasa was pacing in front of the door, anxious to be reunited with Eren.

Shots rang out again and many of them winced at the sound. They couldn't see what was happened, but they could assume Reiner had come across more armed men. Bert shifted worriedly, concerned for his best friend.

Moments later, Reiner came jogging down the stairs, blood spattered on his uniform but looking relatively unharmed.

"Couple more guards came to investigate the firing," he explained simply, pulling keys out and trying them on the door. After what felt like far too long, the door clicked open and they all rushed inside, locking the door behind them.

When they turned, they found a bare, cement room with twelve iron doors. Each door had a barred window at the top and a wooden plate on the side. Armin stepped up to investigate the closes plaque.

"Mariah Hart, Subject 2, Feline Titan," Armin read out. The sound of high-pitched cackling sounded from inside the cell and several of the cadets tried to peer inside, only to be greeted with a psychotic, sharp-toothed grin and a pair of glowing yellow eyes.

"Ooooh, looky at the little kiddies, sneaking into a place they don't belong," she giggled, head tilting to the side and revealing her disgusting, fleshy ears.

The soldiers were speechless at the sight of the deformed titan shifter. They'd heard about the horrifying results of the early experiments, but they never dreamed it would be something like this.

"Awww, what's the matter?" she purred, smashing her face against the bars. "Cat got your tongue? HA! GET IT?!"

She burst into a fit of uncontrollable laughter that sent a chill down their spines.

"Shut the FUCK UP!" came a snarl from another cell.

They all whipped around and saw a furious face peeking through another cell door, violet eyes narrowed in unconcealed rage and resentment.

"Keep laughing like that and the next time we're in training, I'll rip _your_ tongue out!" the angry girl growled.

This only seemed to amuse Mariah more, because in the next instant she had disappeared from the window, but her hysteric laughter continued to bounce off the stone walls of the prison.

"Who the fuck are you guys anyway?" asked the furious blonde in the window.

"We're here looking for Eren," Armin explained. He moved closer to her door, but froze when she started growling at him.

"I found his cell!" Connie informed them, peering into the cell across from the rude blonde.

Mikasa was on them in second, ripping the keys from Reiner's hands and trying to find the right one.

"He's not in there…" came a soft voice. By now, most of the doors had a subject standing at them, watching through their bars in curiosity and confusion. The one that spoke came from the door next to Eren's. A freckled-face girl with mousy brown hair watched them sadly.

"Angel, is that you?" asked Armin, stepping up to her cell, brows furrowed.

Angel smiled and nodded. She opened her mouth to greet the blonde but was interrupted by a loud snarl.

"Where is he then?!" snapped Mikasa, her patience wearing thin.

"They took him upstairs," said a young dark-haired man with glasses, his plate reading Gabrial Knowles. "He's probably in the laboratory section of the facility."

"Why would they take him there at this time of night?" asked Christa, frowning.

"He's been there most of the night," yawned a girl with dark tattoos across her face.

"Probably being punished since Wraith went missing," drawled the angry blonde, who was identified as Lily Drake.

"Punished?" Mikasa hissed, any control she had left, quickly vanished at those words.

"He was naughty, so he was punished," whispered a voice from one of the dark cells where a brown-haired girl was barely peeking over the window, too short to see any further.

"Can you give us any more directions?" Reiner asked, urgently.

"I could," Lily said lazily, growing bored with the conversation. "But you have to do something for us in return."

"We were planning on freeing you already," Armin stated. "Actually, if you give us the directions to Eren's location, a few of us will stay here and unlock your cells, while the other find Eren."

"We will?" asked Connie, looking less than pleased by the idea of splitting up.

"Yes, we will," Mikasa agreed, wanting to leave as soon as possible.

Lily looked them over, suspicious but having no other choice but to trust them.

"Fine, unlock me first, then I'll tell you."

Mikasa growled, but hastily unlocked the cell and swung the door open. Lily stepped out, hands on her hips and a blank expression on her face.

"He's usually kept in the sensory deprivation tank, down the lab hall, third door on your left," Lily instructed. "You'll need that silver key there if you want in, and I suggest you hurry…he's been in there awhile now."

Mikasa nodded and pulled the tiny silver key off the ring, handing the rest to Jean, who blinked at her in bewilderment.

"Stay here and free the rest of them," she instructed, strictly. "Armin, Reiner, you're with me. The rest of you get out of here as quickly as you can once all the cells open. We'll meet you near the horses."

"Hey, shouldn't you bring more people?" Sasha questioned.

"No, the less the better," replied Armin, firmly. "We can sneak around easier and get there and out faster."

Jean grunted an affirmative while the three of them left. He started for the nearest cell and began unlocking them. The others milled about, nervous for the safety of themselves and their friends.

At the top of the stairs, Mikasa, Armin and Reiner were slipping through the door and into the still empty entrance room. The bodies on the stairs had been hard to maneuver around but Reiner had simply decided to drag them down and stash them away in the dark corridor next to the stairs.

"Shouldn't there be more guards? I'm surprised no one's been concerned about their missing buddies," the hulking blonde asked, gun ready.

"The guards you killed earlier were probably the only ones in that section, and no one would notice the outside guards unless they opened the doors to check," explained Armin in a whisper. He chewed his lower lip, worried for his closest friend.

"We're getting him back, Armin," Mikasa said, firmly but reassuringly.

"I-I know, I'm just worried about…what he'll be like now," he said, flashing back to what Wraith had said about him after coming here.

Mikasa couldn't reply to that, because she was worrying over the same thing, but no matter how much he changed, he'd still be Eren. That was what kept her moving.

When they opened the opposite door, they found two more guards standing on their side of it. Mikasa acted quickly, before they had a chance to look back, she dashed forward and slammed the hilt of her swords onto their heads, knocking them out.

"Great reflexes, Ackerman," praised Reiner, pulled the unconscious guards to the side.

The three soldiers started down the hall, counting doors, before they were interrupted by a yell down the hall.

"Hey! I think I heard something coming from the entrance!" came a voice from around the corner.

"Move!" Reiner hissed, shoving the other two into the closest door and slamming it shut. On the other side, they heard the heavy thump of boots on concrete and then the squeak of a door opening and closing.

"I think they're gone," muttered Mikasa, leaning against the door.

"You don't think they'll go downstairs, do you?" said Armin. Mikasa merely shrugged, having faith in her comrades should they run into trouble.

"Uh, guys?"

Armin and Mikasa turned to see Reiner standing in front of a massive metal container. It was about half the size of the room and looked like a steel box with a riveted metal door set with a thick, glass window. To the side was a strange pump-like contraption connected to the top of the box by a metal pipe.

"The hell is this thing?" Reiner muttered, peeking into the window. "It's dark in there but I think I see something inside…"

"I think this might be the tank the subjects were talking about," Armin said, looking over the door.

"Well, let's open the damn thing and find out!" Reiner remarked. He grabbed the circular handle and started turning it, cringing at the sound of screeching metal.

"Wait Reiner!"

Water flooded through the door, forcing it open and sending a tidal wave into the room. The three were knocked to the floor and after a few moments of sputtering, they looked up into the tank expectantly. The water had vanished down a drain in the center of the room.

From inside the tank there were sounds of shuffling and movement and while they stood frozen, too shocked to move, a head of white and brown appeared in the door. The figure was slumped against doorframe, body weak and head bowed.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the boy lifted his head and a smirk formed on his face, blue-green eyes flashing with recognition.

"Figured you'd find your way here," he said, chuckling weakly.

Mikasa took a step forward. Then another. And another. Her steps hesitant, almost fearful. Until she found herself in front of the figure, tears in her eyes and a dull ache in her chest.

"Eren?"

* * *

"And that's the last one!" Jean announced, swinging open the last door and stepping aside for a small blonde girl. At least, he thought they were a girl…

The…child stepped out without a word and joined the rest of them.

"Ah! Sweet semi-freedom!" shouted Riah, throwing out her arms and nearly clawing Hannah in the face.

"Hey, watch it pussy-cat!" sneered the tattooed girl, lips pulled into a snarl to rival the wolves on in her artwork.

"Wanna go, ink face?" she hissed in response.

"Cut it out!" snapped Ymir, effectively redirecting the dangerous glares to herself. "The only reason we're busting you out is for that suicidal bastard, so if you get us caught, I won't hesitate to lock your asses back in to those cells, got it?"

The girls glared but said nothing, preferring instead to whisper to each other quietly, though Jean could have sworn he heard insults directed toward his dark-haired comrade.

"Come on, we'll get up to the top level and get you all to safety for now," Jean instructed, making a beeline for the door. The sooner they were out the better.

"What about Mat?" asked Angel quietly, looking at one of the still locked doors.

"Who?" Connie asked.

"Just leave the psycho, he'll only try to kill us," Lily snapped, dragging an air-headed Dove toward the door.

"So, that one's Razor, huh?" Ymir drawled, cautiously moving toward the door to peak inside. There was a distinct growling and shuffling but it was too dark to see.

"You know about Razor?" Angel squeaked, looking horrified.

"Yeah, Wraith told us about him," said Sasha, "or uh, its what we overheard anyway."

"Is he really that crazy?" Christa hesitantly asked, staring fearfully at the door where more hissing came from.

"Pretty much," sighed Gabriel, nonchalantly wiping his glasses on his shirt. "The only one who can control him is Eren."

"Great, so we'll meet up with them on the top level and if Eren wants to risk his neck to come back for him, he can," Jean mumbled, ignoring the looks of protest from Gwen and the little blonde child, Andy. No one voiced their objections though, so they decided it was time to leave.

Bertholdt was the first up the stairs with everyone else eagerly following behind. They stayed silent, but the tension and excitement were palpable. Riah and Hannah were practically shaking at the prospect of finally being free of their shackles. Gwen continued to glance back at the door, knowing full well Eren would go back for Mathias and she worried for the both of them. She wouldn't forgive herself if they ended up harmed.

At the top of the stairs, Bert slide the door open, only to quickly but quietly close it shut again.

"There's guards right past here," Bert muttered, hands sweating on his gun. "Looks like they might have found those guards."

"Or any other guard Mikasa, Armin, and Reiner fucked up," Ymir grumbled.

"Well, what do we do now?" whispered Sasha shakily.

Bert sighed, "I'll have to just take them out, but depending on how many there are, I might run out of ammo…"

"Or, we could sick Mathias on them," Gabriel offered. When he received odd looks, he elaborated, "Mat may not listen to us, but if two of us guide him through that door, he'll probably attack them and give us time to leave."

"And you don't think he'll go for us when we try to bolt for it?" Connie said, skeptically.

"Once Mathias gets his hands on someone he doesn't let up until he's satisfied," Gabriel assured. "We'll have more than enough time to get out the front door before he starts looking for a new target."

Jean growled and ran his hand through his hair. "Fine, fine. But who's going to restrain him long enough to get him through the door?"

There was silence while everyone traded looks before they all turned to stare at Jean and Gabriel. The dark-haired boy sighed, expecting this, but Jean wasn't having it.

"Hell no!" he snapped in harsh whisper. "There is no way in _hell_ I'm risking getting mauled by some deranged human titan!"

"You're the leader right now, Kirstein, so suck it up and get to it!" hissed Ymir, shoving him back the way they came, nearly sending him tumbling down the steps.

"As long as we're careful, this should work out. We've done this before in one of our escape attempts," Gabriel said, hurrying down the steps with Jean reluctantly on his heels.

"How is knowing you did this before and _failed_ going to me feel any better?"

"Hey, we failed to escape, but we did get Mathias to distract the guards as planned," Gabriel said, stiffly. "We just ran into some issues we weren't prepared for…"

Jean didn't look convinced but went along anyway.

When they found themselves back at the still locked cell door, the taller boy was quick to grab the keys from Jean and unlock it. Inside was the horrifying sight of Razor, still chained to the wall by a shackle around his neck, snarling and foaming at the mouth to get to the boys standing at the door.

Jean was frozen in shock, having never encountered something so disturbing. It was like the boy had gone rabid.

"Keep him distracted while I unlock his chains from the wall," Gabe said, moving quietly into the room and pressing himself as close to the wall as he could. Mathias' gaze followed him as the dark-haired boy drew closer. He stopped just before reaching Razor's chain length and nodded suggestively toward the growling boy.

Swallowing his fear, Jean stepped forward, instantly drawing Mat's attention again. Cautious gold met crazed blue-gray, as they stared each other down. Jean watched as the muscles on his back rippled and contracted, aching to launch forward and claim the manic boy's prey.

Gabriel hurried then, with Mat's focus centered on Jean, he unlocked the two sets of chains against the wall and held them tight.

"Jean, when I throw this to you, pull it as tight as you can and don't let it loosen even for a millisecond, got it?" Gabriel whispered, watching Mathia's for any signs of activity before looking up again.

The soldier nodded, eyes still locked with the monster in front of him.

"I'm putting a lot of trust in you here, Jean," the dark-haired boy said. "If either one of us lets these chains even slightly loose, he'll attack the other. Can I seriously trust you with this?"

"I wouldn't be here acting as titan bait if I wasn't certain about doing this," Jean hissed back, his nerves growing stronger by the second. "So yes, you can trust me to not get us killed."

Gabe nodded and tossed one of the chains and breathed a sigh of relief when Jean snatched it and pulled it taunt while Gabriel did the same with his.

Razor let out a howl of rage and tried to attack but the chains on either side of his neck kept him in place.

"Alright, start moving back toward the stairs, Mat will follow," instructed Gabriel, sweat forming on his forehead from the strain of holding the chains in place.

Jean nodded and slowly the three of them made their way through the room and up the steps, being careful to never let the chain fall limp. Mathias didn't fight and instead followed with only a few growls and hisses, apparently pleased to be away from his damp cell.

When they finally reached the rest of the group, many nervous glances were exchanged between the soldiers, while the subjects simple watched Razor with looks of wary, fear, and disgust. Eventually they all quickly stepped to the side and moved as far away from the center as possible. Razor tried to snap at them as they passed, but the boys yanked the chains whenever he tried. Christa clutched at Ymir harder, while the taller girl stood in front as a guard.

"Everyone get further down the staircase," Jean ordered. When they complied, he stepped to the door and looked back. "I'm going to throw the door open and jump out of the way. Gabe, let go of the chain when the doors completely open, got it."

Gabriel nodded and took a steadying breath. Jean did the same, before he grabbed the handle and threw it open. At the same time the chains dropped and Mathias bolted forward.

Jean barely managed to dodge out of the way and slam against the wall before Razor skidded into the next room.

The heavy door was slammed shut and held in place by Gabriel and Bertholdt. From the other side, shouts and howls of pain echoed through the chamber, accompanied by gun fire and terrifying snarls. Looks of horror and guilt spread across their faces after realizing what they'd done.

"Will he be okay?" Christa asked quietly, wincing at another round of shots that filled the room.

"Mat's crazy, but he ain't stupid," Riah commented, picking at her teeth nonchalantly. "Bastard knows how to get out of the way of bullets. Besides, anything that does hit him will just heal up almost instantly."

"Then why use bullets anyway?" Connie asked, jumping when there was a loud thud against the door but it remained closed.

"They may not do much damage to us, but they hurt like a bitch, especially if our muscle and skin heals over them," she replied.

"You should be more worried about the whole damn facility's being alerted now," Ymir grumbled.

"Come on, sound like a good time to rush out," Gabriel said, and ignoring the sounds of protest from the others, he ripped open the door, shoved the dead body aside, and bolted.

The rest of the subjects followed without hesitation, for them, it was now or never. The cadets followed after them, worry quickly turning to disgust and horror at the bloodied room before them. At least six guards had been present, but now, only two remained upright, though severely bloodied and beaten, with Mathias baring his teeth in front of them.

Gabriel, still holding the key ring, hurriedly slammed the key into the lock and flung the door open. Cold night air rushed into the room and alerted the guards, who looked up in time to see the last of the group rushing outside and disappearing among the trees. They made to go after them, but Razor lunged and sunk his teeth into one of their throats, returning their attention back to the bigger problem.

In the forest, Jean halted his movement and yelled at the rest, all of whom, froze where they were, some kneeled over to catch their breath.

"We'll wait here until the others come out," Jean instructed, moving to get a clear view of the front of the facility. "Connie! Sasha! Think you could grab the horses?"

The two nodded and quickly went to the location they stashed their horses, grateful they'd stayed put. When they returned, the subjects and soldiers were waiting impatiently behind the trees. Some resting at the bases and others pacing nervously. Riah and Hannah had sprawled out, seemingly taking a nap.

"If they don't come out in ten minutes, we need to go in," Bertholdt insisted firmly.

"I know, I know," snapped Jean, worrying even more for his friends, especially his black-haired comrade.

"All we can do is wait," sighed Gabriel, closing his eyes to rest against his tree.

* * *

 **Review Please~ even the smallest messages are appreciated.**


	25. Chapter 23 (Finale)

**I cannot express how happy I am to finally finish this story. After almost two years of trying to do this, its finally done. I'm so grateful for everyone that stuck around this long, you guys are actually legends for putting up with my horrible upload schedule and I appreciate every review I receive. Without those encouragements, I probably would have abandoned this project a long time ago.**

 **I'm probably going to take a break from uploading, but I do plan to do more stories in the future, maybe doing some Fairy Tail to take a break from AOT. I will more than likely do more AOT fanfics, maybe nothing as long as this though, more like one-shots or short stories.**

 **Well, I hope you all enjoy the finale! I'd still appreciate any reviews you guys have for me, either over this chapter or the story in general, and with that note, ONTO THE FINAL CHAPTER OF PROJECT TITAN: SUBJECT ROGUE!**

 **Chapter 23: Freedom (Finale)**

"Eren?"

Mikasa rushed forward the last few feet to help her long lost brother to his feet. Her grip was a bit too tight for the boy's liking but he didn't protest. It'd been too long since they'd seen each other and if he wasn't so weak from the hours of water suspension and slightly dizzy from breathing through a small tube, he would have crushed her into a hug as well.

"Eren, it's really you…" came a soft, disbelieving voice. Eren smiled at Armin and chuckled.

"Yeah, it's really me," he said, trying not to lean too heavily on his sister, even if she could more than handle his weight. "I gotta admit, I'm pretty shocked to see you here so soon. Wraith got to the Survey Corp, then?"

"Yep, guy told us everything we needed," Reiner assured with a smirk. He stepped forward and slapped Eren on the back, nearly sending him to the ground. "Good to see your suicidal ass again. Nice hair, by the way, new fashion statement?"

The boy laughed and shook his head. He didn't realize how much he'd missed all of them, even Reiner's crap jokes were a breath of fresh air in the darkness he'd been living in.

"I see your sense of humor hasn't gotten any better," smirked Eren, good-naturedly.

Reiner laughed but was quickly shushed by the smaller blonde, who was growing more and more anxious by the second.

"We need to get out of here," he whispered, moving to the door.

"Gimme a minute to rest," huffed Eren, giving up on holding his own weight. "That tank is hell on the body. And I'm not letting Mikasa drag me around like a doll."

"Fine we'll wait a bit, but we'll have to hurry after that. Jean and the others should be waiting for us outside, and if they aren't we'll have to go help them."

"Jean?" Eren questioned the blonde, astonished. "Jean's here? What, did the Military Police decide to get involved for once?"

Reiner snorted. "Oh, you won't believe this, Jean actually joined the Survey Corps! He came along with us and a few other friends from our cadet days."

"You're right, I don't believe it," Eren deadpanned. There was no way in _hell_ that pompous excuse for a soldier actually joined the one regiment he'd bad mouthed for an entire year while Eren was in training. He refused to believe that until he saw it for himself.

"Wait, you said you and the others from training are here?" Eren said, suddenly feeling dread. "Please tell me you mean along with the rest of the Corps, right?"

The three of them shuffled guiltily. Not sure how to tell him they'd gone on a rescue mission without the rest of their regiment. Eren groaned and hung his head, teeth clenched.

"Do you realize what's going to happen if we do manage to get out of here without them?" he ground out through his teeth. "Those bastards will hunt us down and drag us back or worse. At least if the Survey Corp saw how bad this place was, they could protect us—"

"I'll protect you, Eren," insisted Mikasa firmly. It was the one thing she'd always promise to do, and she had every intention of keeping it.

"And what about the other subjects? You can't save all of us by yourselves, trust me, I've tried," Eren grunted, cold anger coursing through him. "What'll happen when we do get to the Survey Corp? You think they'll believe us without proof of our treatment?"

"Eren, those subjects are proof enough," Armin stated, losing his timid demeanor for a moment. "Once they see the real victims of this project they'll help, I'm sure of it."

"Yeah, and even if they don't do it for you, they'll at least want to keep you around to help with the titans," Reiner argued. "They might treat you like weapons, but I can sure as hell say they'll treat you better than this place."

The brunette huffed and then sighed. Letting his anger roll off him like he'd trained himself to do so many times before. He learned a long time ago that blind rage wouldn't help in any situation. Armin noticed his sudden change and frowned.

"Fine, I guess it's too late now," he conceded, reluctantly. "What about the rest of the subjects? You have a plan to get them out?"

"How do you think we found you? We freed them first and they told us where you were. If everything goes right, they should all be outside by now," Armin explained.

Eren let out a sigh of relief. He'd be damned if he left this place without them, even if Mikasa or the others tried to fight him on it.

"I think I've got enough strength back," Eren said, standing a little taller. "Let get out of here."

The three soldiers were about to agree when a horrifying sound reached their ears from the entrance. Soft, feminine tsking resounded around the concrete room and forced four sets of eyes to swivel towards the source of the disapproving noise. The only woman that sent fearful shivers down Eren's spine sauntered into the room, a smirk on her deceptively lovely face, and a shotgun in her perfectly manicured hands.

"And here I thought I wouldn't have any more trouble from you, Rogue," sighed the dark-haired woman in mock disappointment, her lip pushed out in a pout. "You were playing such an excellent part, I was almost fooled into believing you'd agree with our cause. It would seem you're only one disappointment after another."

Eren glared at her, teeth grating. Every ounce of hatred he'd hidden away the past two years began to boil over when he saw her blocking their way. He spent so long trying to keep the other shifters safe and away from Violet's attention, did everything he could to make her believe his ruse as her lapdog was genuine, but now, facing her with freedom just on the other side of the door, he felt what little control he had left, what little humanity he had, slip away into the recesses of his mind. His eyes darkened and his face blanked. No one noticed his sudden coldness except for Armin, who had been weary of his best friend since they arrived, but he said nothing.

"You better get out of our way lady or I'm loading you up with lead," Reiner snarled, gun raised.

Violet smirked again and swiveled her own gun to point at Eren. "You fire that weapon and I shoot the one reason you came all this way for. It won't kill him obviously, but it could cause some serious brain damage if I aim right. Wouldn't want your friend to become a vegetable, now would you?"

Reiner froze at that, gun still poised over her heart. Violet took his moment of hesitation to slam the butt of her gun against his head and snatch up his weapon. The large boy stumbled and feel to one knee, conscious but dazed. Without missing a beat, Violet emptied the bullets and tossed to the gun into the corridor.

Mikasa made to move in front of her brother, but Eren hissed at her to stay put. She wasn't getting shot over him.

"Now that I have your attention, here is what's going to happen." Violet proclaimed, smugly. "You and the rest of your little group are going to surrender to me. My subjects are going back where they belong and maybe, if I'm feeling kind, I'll let you leave here with your lives. Sound reasonable?"

Mikasa growled under her breath. "We aren't leaving without Eren."

Violet sighed. "Oh, honey, that's not how this works. Rogue is the most valuable piece of our operation. Truthfully, we could easily kill the other subjects if it was deemed necessary. With the finished serum from Rogue's blood, we really have no need for the rejects. They were more for collateral against their leader than anything."

"You would throw away lives for no reason?" Armin asked, partially appalled but wanting to prolong their talk. His eye's darted around the room when he thought Violet wasn't looking, finding some way out of the mess they were in.

"They already have," snarled Eren, lip curled menacingly. "Jimmy didn't deserve what you did."

Violet snorted. "If I remember right, his death did serve a purpose in keeping you in line. He really wasn't useful for anything else with such a weak titan."

Eren reined in his sudden burst of white-hot rage, but just barely. If this bitch kept it up, he wouldn't be able to hold himself together. Needlessly launching himself at her would only injure himself and the others, no matter how badly he longed to.

"I really shouldn't be surprised by your betrayal," Violet sighed, wistfully. "Like father, like son, hm? Oh well, maybe losing your little friends will be enough to destroy your will…"

The second the gun shifted the two inches to Mikasa, Eren made his move. Shoving his sister out of the way, he bolted for the demoness standing in their way. That last threat snapped the already thin wire of his patience and he had enough. Enough of her smug voice, her idle threats, her blatant and inhuman lack of sympathy, her sociopathic manipulation. He was done with the experiments, done with the harsh punishments and mocking guards. He'd had enough of all of it, enough of this place, and enough of _her_.

Watching through a haze of red, Eren grabbed her gun and tossed it carelessly away from them. His vision tunneled to only his target, forgetting his friends completely. His face contorted in a snarl of beastly fury, eyes glowing bright with malicious intent. All traces of his humanity gone in an instant.

Eren gripped her arms with immense strength and flung her across the room, her light weight almost too easy to lift in his numbing madness.

She slammed into the metal tank and without a second to regain her bearings, she was forced to the ground and the loud squealing of the metal door behind her opening echoed through the room.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!?" she screamed, trying to struggle to her feet only to have strong arms snake under her and throw her back again. This time when she landed she felt cool metal underneath her instead of rough stone.

"Sorry, Ms. Drake," came a hollow, terrifyingly calm voice. When Violet lifted her head to the scene in front of her, she nearly whimpered in horror.

Standing at the entrance to the tank was Eren, her creation, her greatest accomplishment, with his head tilted and wide, dead eyes staring her down blankly. In his hands was a long, thick tube, with a breathing apparatus on one end while the other end hung loose, obviously broken.

Slowly, Violet stared around herself in increasing terror at the smooth metal walls. At the top of the tank where the breathing tube had been, there was nothing but a hole stuffed with plastic tubing, completely blocked up and unusable. With an animalistic cry of panic, Violet whipped around to where Eren stood, knowing full well she wouldn't be able to push her way out.

"N-Now, come Eren. Surely, you're not serious here?" she whispered, engaging her sugary sweet voice in an attempt at lulling the psychotic boy. "After everything I did for you? I fed you, and clothed you, and kept you healthy, did I not? I gave you everything I could…"

"Everything but our freedom," he hissed, savagely. "And the more you gave, the more you took away. You think barely giving us food and clothes was enough after you took our sanity and freedom? You think you deserve to live while we died every day in this damn hell?"

Violet tried to lunge for the exit, only for Eren's leg to swing out and kick her back. Her wheezed out and clutched her midsection when the air was knocked from her lungs. Staring back up at him, rage seething in her eyes, she gave another desperate attempt at negotiation.

"You can't do this to me! I made you powerful, I gave you strength!" she screeched, her once perfect hair falling into her anger-twisted face. "You were nothing before you came here! Nothing but a mindless soldier ready to die for his king! I made you who you are! _I CREATED YOU, DAMMIT_!"

Eren simply stared in cold contempt at the deranged woman crouched like a cornered animal in front of him. He held no pity, no sympathy for this wretched woman. This was the end, her end, and the end of this poor excuse for a project.

"You've been bad girl, Violet, and you know what happens to bad girls?" the brunette said softly. When she simple glowered at him, teeth clenched, violet eyes wide and feral.

"Punishment."

As the once powerful woman launched herself at the door, it was slammed shut in her face and locked. Eren reached over, face still visible in the small window, and pulled the lever. There was a groaning of pipes and loud splashing as water began to rapidly fill the tank. Violet stood and started furiously beating on the reinforced glass, anger quickly turning to overwhelming panic. Her screams were muffled and unrecognizable, her nails bleeding from scratching at the window. Eren only stood there, face shadowed and devoid of emotion.

None of his old friends attempted to stop him, despite the horror and disbelief churning their stomachs. While two of them had experience with killing humans, with Armin struggling to hold back his revulsion, this particular brand of cold vengeance was a new experience, and one they hoped not to repeat in the future. Mindless killing of people you've never met before was one thing, but watching a person slowly die, while doing nothing about it, somehow felt wrong, even if she more than deserved it.

Armin kept his focus on his friend while the tank filled and the screams became more frantic. He was weary and unsure when it came to Eren, not knowing whether it was really his best friend in there, the same one that longed to kill giant beasts and explore the world with him, or something else entirely. His friend had changed drastically that was certain, but hopefully he hadn't been completely lost to the monster inside him.

The brunette watched every moment of Violet's death. When the tank was completely filled, it was so dark inside but every now and again there was a flash of skin pounding against the glass and gurgled shrieks. After what felt like too short a time, the movement stopped and the room was silent.

Eren tilted his head for a moment, as if suspicious about the woman's death, but when nothing more happened, he nodded to himself and turned. Ignoring Armin's calculating look and Mikasa and Reiner's blank stares, he marched past them and out into the hall. They followed him without a word about what had just taken place. There wasn't anything to say.

When they reached the door to the entrance room, Eren paused when he heard snarling and the grotesque squelching sound of flesh being ripped apart. He was about to open the door, when he was stopped by a bulky arm.

"You sure it's safe?" Reiner asked, eyeing the door skeptically.

"I know that sound anywhere. Just stick behind me and don't make eye contact with him," Eren replied, shaking off Reiner's hand.

"Make eye contact with who?" Armin whispered, but no response came. Instead Eren shoved the door open and stepped into the blood drenched room.

A rumbling growl came from the crouched, gore soaked boy in the middle of the room. He made to pounce at them, causing the three soldiers to tense and pull out their forgotten swords, but a deep, bone-chilling rumble stopped them in their tracks.

Eren stooped before them and sent out another resonating growl that froze the boy across the room. His blue-green eyes were wild with dominance and anger, his lip curled in a snarl. He stalked forward, drowning out the slowly quieting growl of resistance from Razor, until finally, the white-haired boy lowered his head in submission and became silent.

Armin, Mikasa, and Reiner watched the entire battle for dominance in stunned silence. To them, Eren looked like the alpha wolf putting a pup back in his place, it was the look of an untamed animal, deadly and instinctual, and they all knew then. Eren wasn't Eren anymore, not like before that is. He'd grown darker and matured into something that was barely human. There were still glimpses of the boy they'd known, but they were now suppressed under the personality of the alpha in front of them.

Rogue stood then, after asserting his dominance over the weaker titan, and made to leave the room.

"You said they should all be out, right?" he asked over his shoulder.

"If everything went as planned then yes," Armin said, stepping over a piece of someone's arm with a shudder.

"Suppose it won't matter if their still down there or not, doubt the guards will be so willing to die stopping us when they find out their employer is floating in the tank," drawled Eren, completely unaffected by the gore around them. As far as he was concerned, they were free. Their shackles had been broken off and their warden overthrown and as long as Eren lived, he was going to ensure that freedom was never taken from them again.

They all finally left the facility, with Razor walking alongside Eren, hunched over and head still hung, and the other three trailing behind. When they reached the tree-line, Eren was tackled by a blur of brown hair, and nearly sent to him to the ground.

"You're okay!" sobbed Angel, her grip tightening around his neck. She pulled her face away from his chest and searched his face. "You are okay, right? Ms. Drake didn't get to you, did she?"

The brunette sighed and hugged her back. "I'm fine, Gwen, calm down. Violet won't be bothering us anymore."

"She dead then?" cackled Riah, sharpening her claws against a tree. "Oh, I really hope that bitch is dead!"

Eren's face darkened. "Yeah, she's dead."

The howls and shouts of victory rang through the air, startling the soldiers and causing a feral smile to pull at Rogue's lips, but the subjects were unconcerned. Without Violet, who was there to stop them? Not mention Razor's rampage had taken out most of the guards. There was no one to pull them back into that darkness again. No one to restrain, poke, and prod them; no one to taunt, tease, and torment them. The project was done and nothing anyone did would bring it back, bring _them_ back.

After the hardships and torture and times where hope was almost completely lost, they were free. They were finally _free._

Now, there were only a few loose ends to tie.

"Damn, Jaeger, is that you?" came the stunned voice of his old rival. When Eren turned his attention to the group of his ex-comrades, he couldn't stop the blast of nostalgia that shot through him at seeing all them together.

"He's more fucked up than we thought," Ymir snorted, earning a light, disapproving smack from Christa and warning growl from Mathias.

"Good to see you too, Ymir," Eren snorted, releasing Angel and stepping up to his old friends. His eyes travelled over their uniforms and insignias, a pang of envy jolted through him until his gaze landed on a certain two-toned hair boy and he chuckled. "And here I thought Reiner had to be joking when he said you joined the Survey Corps. Finally get some courage in that cowardly heart of yours?"

"Tch, whatever, Jaeger," grumbled Jean, arms crossed. "I did this for my own reason's, ass. Also, don't forget who came to rescue you and your army of freaks—."

"Jean!" Marco interrupted, trying to ease the situation and prevent said "freaks" from tearing his friend apart. "What he means to say, Eren, is he's happy you're alright. We all are."

"Exactly," piped Christa. "We missed you, you know."

The rest of them agreed vehemently, grinning and welcoming their friend back.

Eren's face softened. "Yeah, it's good to see you guys too."

The sound of gagging turned everyone's attention toward Kitty and Bones, the two of them making fake sounds of vomiting before Riah sneered at Eren.

"So, Jaeger-boy, now that the mushy stuff is outta the way, what now?"

"Yeah, it's not like any of us got a place to go, ya know?" Hannah added.

"You could come with us," Armin suggested. "Back to the Survey Corps, I mean, that's where you want to go, right Eren?"

Eren nodded. "I would prefer for us to join them. We could a huge asset to humanity in the right hands, but first, Gabriel?"

The boy stood and fixed his glasses, letting out a yawn as he replied, "Yeah, Rogue?"

"Think your lightening could start a fire?" Eren asked, ignoring the odd looks from the others.

Gabe smirked and stepped back into the clearing, already understanding what Eren wanted.

"And try not to fry us, will ya?" Lily muttered coldly. "I still get nightmares from that shit."

The lightening titan winced, trying not to relive those few torture sessions involving his strange ability and the other subjects.

"What's he doing?" Connie hissed, watching the taller boy walk closer to the facility.

"Tying up loose ends," replied Eren, his voice taking on that cold softness like flipping a switch. Armin frowned again, wary of the sudden change once again. It was like he was talking to his best friend one moment and the next he'd reverted to the blank stare and cruel demeanor of the alpha titan. There was an air of command and strength that his old friend had never been able to pull off before with his righteous fury and rousing speeches of freedom. It awed and unnerved the blonde and apparently the rest were in similar state of cautious amazement.

Without any warning, Gabriel lifted his hands in front of him, near his chest, and in the center, a ball of crackling energy formed between his hands, barely contained between his fingers. In the next instance, he tossed the ball forward and released it. They all watched in awe as the ball slammed into the building and sent waves of electrical currents and static across the surface of the already weak and crumbling stone. Ivy and creeping vines caught fire from the flash of heat and flames quickly licked over the dry plant life and crept into the open door of the facility.

"Send one inside, Gabe," Eren ordered from a safe distance away. The teen nodded and tossed out another ball of energy, sending it straight into the open door.

There was what sounded like an explosion, as the ball bounced around the enclosed space before releasing its energy down the halls and rooms, sending anything flammable up in flames.

"Hey, what if someone was still in there!?" Sasha screeched.

The barely heard response that followed had everyone whipping their heads around to stare at the small blonde child who had barely spoken since they escaped.

"Oh well…"

Riah blinked then, getting over her initial surprise of hearing Andy's flippant disregard of human life, before a wicked smile spread over her face and she tilted her head back and let out a burst of maniacal howling that could barely be considered laughter. Hannah was quick to join in with her, her tattoos stretching oddly with her mouth hung open wide in insane joy. Next came the soft giggling from Sophia, who couldn't see the flames but still felt the heat, and the breathy laughter from Dove. Even Lily, Andy, and Gabriel were chuckling under their breath. Mat sat on the ground, looking uninterested and sending hungry looks toward the appalled human soldiers.

The realization that they were actually free seemed to have sunk in at that moment. In the growing fire of the burning prison they'd been trapped in for years, the subjects let out their pent-up frustration and overwhelming joy in shouts, cheers, laughter, and even wild dancing. There was no worry over whether they were being hunted or followed. No fear of being dragged back into hell on Earth or paranoia of finding themselves back in those cells. No more crying and screaming, no more pain, no more exhausting trials or horrific test. It was all over. The monsters were dead and gone.

They were free.

* * *

"Are you sure you won't come with us?" Gwen whispered, face drawn in sorrow. Behind her, Riah was shifted into her quadrupedal titan, tail swishing irritably while the rest of the subjects climbed up, including a sullen and muzzled Mathias.

"Sorry, but I have to stay here," responded Eren, smiling softly. "It's just what I need to do."

It was nearly a week ago the facility was destroyed and the subjects freed. After their wild celebration, they had all been ushered onto the horses by Mikasa and rode off away from the fire before someone spotted the tower of smoke and investigated. They'd only made it halfway back before they were met by the Commander of the Survey Corp and a small group of soldiers, along with an exhausted and annoyed Wraith. Apparently their "sneaky" rescue attempt hadn't been all that quiet, and the second Wraith had spilled about where they'd gone, Erwin ordered a small group to accompany him in retrieving the cadets. They had, of course, been very surprised to see their recruits with several other teenagers, but after a lengthy explanation and more than enough complaining about the early hour of the day, the Commander instructed them to return to headquarters to rest. The next day they would discuss that best course of action going from there.

The discussion the next day had turned into an all-out argument over what to do with the subjects while the recruits were commanded to clean every inch of the castle as punishment, an order Captain Levi was all too willing to give out. The officers knew they couldn't effectively hide eleven experimental human-titans from the government or other military branches, especially when many of them were so mentally unstable. Erwin insisted they try to convince the General to leave them in their custody, a logical approach when dealing with military procedures, but Eren wasn't convinced and reminded the Commander of what almost happened the last time they left the decision of custody to that man. Eren couldn't take the risk of him or any of the others falling into the hands of the Military Police, who openly admitting what they would do should they have the subjects in custody. After a long, drawn out battle between the two leaders, Eren finally caved under Erwin's reasoning and a request for a private meeting among the military and government officials was sent off.

None of the subjects were allowed in the meeting, and Eren didn't have high hopes, but when the Commander returned with a barely-there grin on this face, his confidence in the future brightened.

According to Erwin, the Survey Corp had been granted custody of the subjects but on the condition that a trial expedition take place with all data being submitted to the General afterward, and they be tested mentally and emotionally first. This is what worried Eren, because although Erwin didn't say it, they would more than likely be putting Mathias down, something the teen didn't want to happen. Sure, the kid was a human-eating maniac, but he was learning to control himself, with Eren's and Gwen's guidance.

There was also the concern that a few others would not be saved as well, given their poor state of minds. This is what prompted the last-minute decision to leave the headquarters and ultimately the walls themselves. The subjects needed to be away from humans for a while and with their abilities, they weren't concerned about the titan's outside. Only one of them was opposed to the idea.

"Aw, come on, Jaeger, we neeeeeed you," whined Hannah from atop Riah's ashy hair.

"I would have thought you of all people would hate the idea of becoming another lapdog," Lily drawled, eyes narrowed suspiciously.

Eren shook his head, still smiling. "I know you guys wouldn't understand my reasoning, but this something I have to do. I made a promise and I'm going to keep it by helping the Survey Corp." His smile softened as he turned to his human friends, who had come to see the titan's off. They gave him reassuring smiles, except Jean, who had only been dragged out by Marco. "Besides, I think I'm more needed here, than with you guys. Can't let the human's fight by themselves, right?"

Tears started in the corner of Gwen's eyes, but she quickly wiped them away and smile brilliantly. "Well, good luck, then. I hope you fulfill that promise."

When Eren was about to reply, the angel suddenly ran forward and embraced him, not bothering to hold in her tears anymore. "We'll miss you, all of us. Stay safe, okay? No more of that suicidal stuff now, alright?"

The brunette smile and hugged her back, ignoring the look of jealously on his black-haired pseudo-sister. "Can't really promise that, but I'll try."

Gwen laughed and pulled away, eyes still glistening.

"Come on, Gwen, we gotta head out soon, the night patrols will be switching off in twenty minutes, and we need to be out of sight before then," Gabriel called, tying the last of their supplies to harness they'd created for Riah, much to her disgruntlement.

"O-oh, I'm coming up now!" Gwen called, giving one last grin to Eren. "If you ever need us, you know how to call, yeah?"

"Aw, is little Gweny so worried about her precious little crush," cooed Hannah, receiving a teasing purr from Riah along with a coy smirk.

"S-shut up!" snapped Gwen, stumbling in her attempt to climb up Riah's titan. Gabriel and Piers reached down to help her up, giving Eren sly grins over her shoulder as they did.

The brunette sighed and shook his head. He was definitely going to miss them, but that teasing was getting old fast.

"Didn't know there was something going on between you and that mousy girl, Jaeger," sneered Ymir, with a lecherous smile.

Eren took a deep, annoyed breath through his nose. And the teasing wasn't going to end it seems.

"Cut it out," Mikasa growled, growing uncomfortable with the conversation. "They need to get going, right?"

"Right, we got about fifteen minutes left," Gabriel said quickly, as Riah stood up and started trotting away, building her speed. "See ya around! Thanks again for everything!"

"Yeah thank you!" called Sophia, waving to them with Gwen's guidance. The rest of the subjects called their farewells while they still could.

"See ya guys! Good luck!" Eren called after them. Armin, Mikasa, and the rest of them gave their farewells as the animalistic titan faded among the tree-line and out of view.

A weight seemed to settle in Eren's chest as he watched them leave, as if he should have been with them, but he was needed here, with his family and friends. They wouldn't have been happy staying and Eren wouldn't have been happy leaving, so this was the best alternative. Besides, he highly doubted this was last he'd see of them in any case.

"Well, now that the freaks are gone, I'm going back to bed," Jean yawned, spinning around with his hands folded behind his head.

"What the hell did you say, horse-face?" growled Eren, not hesitating to get in Jean's face.

"I said, I'm going to bed now that the freak parade's out of here, got a problem with that, hothead?" Jean ground out through gritted teeth.

"Why you—"

"Would you two knock it off, already? I'm exhausted," huffed Ymir, steering Christa back down the stairs. "And I don't know about you guys, but we're not getting caught by the patrols because of your loud barking."

"Agreed," remarked Connie, following along.

"I guess those two will never change," chuckled Sasha, right behind Connie.

"Come on, Jean. We only have a few more minutes," Marco insisted, trying to pull his friend away from the impending fight.

"Tch, we'll finish this later, Jaeger," grumbled Jean, leaving with the rest of them.

Mikasa and Armin were about to follow as well, when they noticed Eren hadn't moved. Turning back, they saw him gazing at the trees where the others had left.

"Eren, you coming?" Armin asked hesitantly.

"Hm? Oh right," his friend said distantly, a small smile played across his features as he turned back and followed them.

"I've got a good feeling about this upcoming expedition," Eren remarked optimistically.

"That's the spirit, Eren" Armin said, holding open the door. "Who knows? Maybe we'll see them out there."

"Yeah, maybe…"

The three of them returned to their dorms, barely slipping past the night patrols, just in time to catch a few hours of sleep before their morning training. Eren laid in his bed.

He was going to miss his friends greatly, but maybe, if he worked hard enough, he would see them again one day, when they were all free from the tyranny of the titans.


	26. Final Author's Note

I want to apologize for something a few of you have pointed out. Yes, the story does end pretty open-ended and I am sorry for that. I hadn't completely thought through how this story would end when I started it, thinking I'd just let it go whenever it ended up, and ultimately I was hoping to just feed the end of this story into the original AOT story line and I guess, that didn't come across right. No, I don't plan to continue this, I hate to admit it, but this story had caused a lot of stress and anxiety for me to finish and I just really wanted it to end, so I apologize if it didn't turn out the way you wanted, but I do want to move onto to other things.

Otherwise, thank you all for enjoying!


End file.
